Ten of the first twelve US presidents were enslavers

Evidence

Slavery was not a necessary ingredient for the founders’ belief in Republican equality, Morgan writes, but in Virginia and the other Southern colonies, it proved the ingredient. It is, therefore, not incidental that ten of this nation’s first twelve presidents were enslavers. In fact, some might argue that this nation was founded not as a democracy but as a slavocracy. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 113

Categorization

• SHARE: Ten-of-first-twelve-presidents-enslavers is a precise, striking data point worth sending to a history-minded friend.
• SEED: The ‘slavocracy vs democracy’ formulation is the sharpest single summary of the reframing thesis — usable as an essay hook on how origin dating determines what counts as design.