Originally posted by: PackerBackerAZ
Washington, Jefferson Madison, Monroe and Jackson all owned 75 slaves or more and several other presidents less. Jefferson owned 600! That's not to say Trump wouldn't if he could. Most racist in history is really debateable.
Yes, but back then, racism wasn't really something that was considered wrong; it was considered a rational view of humanity and "the natural order." Even Lincoln said he didn't think the Black man was the equal of the White man.
I think it only became possible to be racist when societal thinking became advanced enough for people to recognize that people are essentially alike, and equal in ability and capacity--and therefore have equal rights. Someone who owned slaves in, say, 1830 would have been baffled by any suggestion that Black people were equal to Whites. It wouldn't have been a matter of moral right or wrong for them---it would have been along the lines of suggesting that Black people could fly. We, of course, found out after the Civil War that they were equal--and the lynchings began.