I want to mention a couple of excellent posts over at J.L. Bell’s “Boston 1775″ blog, which is, frankly, the best if not one of the best history blogs content wise. Bell’s relentless and thoughtful posts are second to none.
Samuel Adams and Slavery: The Private Man
In this excellent post, Bell points out that for a brief time when he remarried, S. Adam’s new wife owned a servant slave, thus showing that S. Adams was a Founding Father who indeed owned a slave. (It was thought that he was one of the few who had not). However!, S. Adams made it very clear that his wife had to free the servant, and indeed they did. Also, in his private letters it was very clear that in his private life he reflected his political life in its staunch anti-slavery position.
Spreading Skepticism about Presidential Oath Add-On
Here Bell discusses a group that is contesting the upcoming presidential inauguration and has filed a lawsuit concerning the form of the oath of office, in particular the “So help me God” part that has been attributed to George Washington. Bell makes and proves two key points: 1) the Founders never intended a complete separation of church and state; and 2) that Washington did not start the tradition of adding “So help me God.”
