This video with Robert Tijerina is the first in our series of videos on American History. In this first video, Robert explores the relationship between the Founding Fathers and their views on slavery.
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Winner of the Fall 2016 StMU History Media Award for Best Article in the Category
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It’s difficult to discern whether or not the founding fathers were in the right over not abolishing slavery in the Constitution. On one hand, it was simply socially acceptable at the time, and most did not know better than to continue in the beliefs and institutions passed onto them. Such a drastic shift from “normalcy” was controversial, and the founding fathers needed to be strategic about their instilling of a new Constitution. It needed to be widely accepted. On the other hand, morally, slavery wasn’t good. A lot of the founding fathers knew this and even advocated for abolition, yet never followed through, especially during their respective presidencies. It’s really sad to think about when African Americans were pivotal to the winning of the Revolutionary War, and aided the United States through joining battalions, espionage, etc.
I really love this video! It was put together, easy to watch, and informative with a little bit of humor. I did notice that abolishing slavery was not mentioned when the constitution was being written. I think I only heard that Washington had slaves about a year ago and that kind of took be by surprise but then again it did not. I found out that Alexander Hamilton wanted to abolish slavery through the musical. I love how you looked into the founding fathers and broke down their views individually. Good job on this video and congratulations for your award, you deserve it!
Watching this video was a fresh change of pace from reading so many articles. Personally, this was really good and great way to learn, but I don’t think this is something I could do, just because I’m not great at video editing. The quality of the video really showed the time, effort, and skill of the presenter. I hope to see more presentations like this!
I really liked the presentation of the video, the history mixed in with the occasional comedic comment. The video was informative from start to finish and Roberto did a great job at keeping the audience attention. I really liked how with each Founding Father he examined, he looked at the pros and cons of their viewpoints and the way they lead their lives.
This video actually shed some light on a subject that I thought I had a decent understanding of already. The analogy, calling George Washington a “jumbo shrimp”, or a good bad guy, made a lot of sense. The witty translations of the Founding Father’s thoughts and actions added appropriate humor to this lesson. There was thorough use of other sources such as the video of Michele Bachmann, and several photos and graphics. Well done!
This video was so well made, i am genuinely impressed. The pictures were well chosen and the dialogue was fresh and confidently said! It is sad that our founding fathers were not really advocates for the end of slavery, especially because most of them had at least one. It is true, if they were to be outspoken for abolishing slavery they might have not been respected by the general public. Now though, we must recognize that the founding fathers were not as moral as we often say they are.
This video was great! It almost seems like common sense that if the founding fathers did not at least propose legislation banning slavery then they did not really care much about the issue; maybe Michelle Bachman’s constituents just really love the founding fathers. I was surprised to learn about Benjamin Franklin’s history in the slave trade. His story just goes to show you can be smart and still be wrong.
This was an incredibly put together video. It was very informational and easy to watch. I have known that many of the founding fathers owned slaves, and some were for abolition. However, I did not know the extent of it. Franklin being the president of an abolitionist group, and Washington and Jefferson having a great desire to end slavery. I understand their dilemma. Writing a new constitution was extremely urgent, and having slavery, whether it be allowing it or abolishing it, would have meant either a delay of the signing or states refusing to look at it. Owning slaves was common then, and it was almost a way of showing your wealth, so I look at the morality of slave owners the way they treated their slaves. Knowing it was a moral evil, they should treat them with respect and dignity, and not the way the stereotypical slave owner did.
You are a natural on this, I first thought I was watching a Youtube channel, great job in this video and for winning as well! The title, the music, the production, the animations, and the pictures are a great combination. Your video and the content inspire me to also make a video for my next project!