Historians debate: Did the Founders seek to sustain slavery? Times defends #1619 Project

Lord Dunmore Proclamation (1775)
Offering freedom to indentured Servants, Negroes, and others who abandon
their masters and take up arms with His Majesty's troops

Jefferson: “I supposed the state of Virginia lost under Lord Cornwallis’s hands 30000, and that of these 27000 died of smallpox and camp fever.” (Thomas Jefferson to Alexander McCaul, 19 April 1786) This is Jefferson writing about enslaved people in the Revolution. 1/

— Doctor Historianess (@historianess) December 21, 2019

I know it's Christmas but I can't muster good cheer at the assault on #1619Project by Sean Wilentz et al. (FWIW I took Wilentz/McPherson's seminar in 19th century U.S. history when I was in grad school and they've been singing the same tune for decades.) https://t.co/GYRDbQF3J9

— Nicholas Gu⛄️att🎄 (@NicholasGuyatt) December 21, 2019