Lincoln: Why the Founders Didn't Abolish Slavery at the Outset

From the Lincoln-Douglas debates:

It may be argued that there are certain conditions that make necessities and impose them upon us, and to the extent that a necessity is imposed upon a man, he must submit to it. I think that was the condition in which we found ourselves when we established this Government. We had slavery among us, we could not get our Constitution unless we permitted them to remain in slavery, we could not secure the good we did secure if we grasped for more; and having by necessity submitted to that much, it does not destroy the principle that is the charter of our liberties. Let that charter stand as our standard. (Emphasis added)

Thus when The Atlantic titles an article Slavery Made America, it is at best a misleading half-truth. When the series of articles of which this is a part give no voice whatever to Lincoln's dissenting opinion, that influential publication breaks journalistic faith with the American public. When The Atlantic insinuates that the Founders were morally compromised hypocrites (see the opening portion of The Opinions in this Article are those of the Author and Do Not Necessarily Reflect the Opinion of The Atlantic or Its Staff), it slanders courageous, principled leaders to whom it, and we, owe much.