MAKING OF A NEW NATION 1776 1800
THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION THE GREAT COMPROMISE
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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True
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False
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Either A or B
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None of the above
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Detailed explanation-1: -Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about 25 owned slaves. Many of the framers harbored moral qualms about slavery. Some, including Benjamin Franklin (a former slaveholder) and Alexander Hamilton (who was born in a slave colony in the British West Indies) became members of anti-slavery societies.
Detailed explanation-2: -A majority of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and nearly half of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention owned slaves.
Detailed explanation-3: -Of the U.S.’ first twelve presidents, the only two never to own slaves were John Adams, and his son John Quincy Adams; the first of which famously said that the American Revolution would not be complete until all slaves were freed.
Detailed explanation-4: -Out of the five-man committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, depicted in Trumbull’s painting handing John Hancock an early copy, only two-John Adams and Roger Sherman-did not own enslaved people. Robert Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin were all enslavers (as was Hancock).