Emancipation & Obama

I was reading the other day about a small period in 1790 when Congress (for the only official time, I think) had a few days of debate over slavery. Northern delegates argued that the institution of slavery was absolutely incompatible with the principles of the newly secured American Revolution, while Southern delegates argued that slavery was so woven into the fabric of American life that discussions of emancipation were irresponsible and unfair-they had only joined the union on the understanding that they would be allowed to keep their slaves.

But here's the thing: people who argued for emancipation never envisioned a biracial society. The newly freed slaves would be deported to either the relatively unexplored American West, or back to Africa. Any suggestion of any sort of integration into White culture would have been laughed out of the room. It would never have even come to a vote.

And now, a black man is the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States. Fuck that's fantastic.

Chice