A life entwined with slavery
By Hamilton’s time in pre-revolutionary America, wealthy Northerners like him not only benefited from and propagated slavery, but enjoyed centuries of generational wealth built on the labor and lives of enslaved people.
Hamilton’s father-in-law had among the largest slaveholdings in the North. His mother-in-law was the daughter of Johannes Van Rensselaer and Angelica Livingston, both members of two of the largest slaveholding families in the North.
Hamilton’s early years in the Caribbean were also marked by slavery. He was born on the British West Indies island of Nevis in the 1750s into a household that held slaves. By age 11, he was working as a clerk for Beekman & Cruger, a firm based in New York that traded enslaved people and other commodities – like food products and wood for shipbuilding – that fed the slave economies.
Northern Ireland council withdraws plan to honour Hercules Mulligan Rory Carroll Ireland correspondent
A Northern Ireland borough council has withdrawn a plan to honour a Northern Ireland emigrant who played a key role in the American revolution after discovering he had owned a slave.
The Causeway Coast and Glens borough council decided last month to recognise Hercules Mulligan, who was born in Coleraine, County Derry, for his exploits during America’s war of independence.
The tailor spied on British officers in New York, reputedly saved the life of George Washington and mentored Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers. He was also a founder of the New York Manumission Society, which promoted the abolition of slavery,
Councillor who proposed Blue Plaque for slave owner withdraws motion belfasttelegraph.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from belfasttelegraph.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Council asked to rescind plans to honour local man
The North West Migrants Forum have written to the council to express their opposition.
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A charity who support migrants, asylum seekers and refugees have called on a local council to reverse a decision to honour American founding father Hercules Mulligan.
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council s Leisure and Development Committee passed a motion last week calling for a heritage trail to be developed in Mulligan s birthplace of Coleraine.
The motion, brought by Alliance councillor Yvonne Boyle, has come under scrutiny after County Derry historian, Stephen McCracken, uncovered information showing Mulligan was in fact a slave owner.
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Introduction
The question of the hour is whether the Constitution is pro-slavery or anti-slavery. History has shown us that great leaders and reasonable men and women have changed their viewpoints on this question.
Frederick Douglass, the foremost black abolitionist in the 1840s, called the Constitution a radically and essentially pro-slavery document, but by the 1850s, Douglass changed his mind, concluding, the Constitution, when construed in light of well-established rules of legal interpretation, “is a
glorious liberty document.”
As we war over America’s heart and soul, many are asking what convinced Douglass to change his viewpoint. Some declare it was what the Framers had hoped would preserve a legacy of freedom for generations to come: silence. Douglass asked, “If the Constitution were intended to be by its framers and adopters a slave-holding instrument, then why would neither ‘slavery,’ ‘slave-holding,’ nor ‘slave’ be anywhere found