Understanding Bachmann's View That The Founders Opposed Slavery

Today Michele Bachmann refused to back down from her previous claim that the Founding Fathers, many of whom were slaveholders, actually opposed slavery. She cited John Quincy Adams, who was nine years old when the Declaration of Independence was signed, to prove her argument that the Founders worked to end slavery. But Bachmann’s belief that the Founding Fathers were actually abolitionists makes sense in the world of conservative alternative history created by David Barton.

Bachmann is a fan of Barton and even invited the pseudo-historian to address members of Congress in a lecture sponsored by her House Tea Party Caucus. Barton insists that Founders were not only devoted opponents of slavery, but actually fought the revolution against Britain to end it. Even though Britain abolished slavery two decades before the U.S., Barton insists that the War of Independence was really about America’s desire to end slavery against Britain’s wishes: