If you would prefer not to read my rantings, I understand. You might want to pass over today’s devotional. However, I hope you won’t because the application is worth the time of reading something that happened in our history – a shameful part of our history that smacks of disgusting hypocrisy.
On this day in 1775, the American Revolution begins at the Battle of Lexington. “At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town’s common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment’s hesitation, the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, a shot was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead or dying and 10 others were wounded. Only one British soldier was injured, but the American Revolution had begun.”1
Americans wanted to end their servitude to England, and they were willing to pay the price. Once the dust of war had settled, nearly 6,800 American lives were lost. Even more lives surrendered to disease. Over 17,000 died of malaria, dysentery, or smallpox.2 After such a war, you would think Americans had learned a lesson. Evidently not!
Thirty-four years to the day from the beginning of the war, indentured servant John Freeman was sold to newly sworn in President James Madison. The bill of sale was written by Freeman’s owner, Thomas Jefferson. On a day when fighting had started to END servitude, a human being was sold to CONTINUE servitude. That’s disgusting hypocrisy!
“Although President Thomas Jefferson owned hundreds of enslaved men, women, and children in his lifetime, he brought only a handful with him to the White House. In need of additional help, he hired the labor of an enslaved man named John Freeman from Dr. William Baker, the Maryland physician who owned him. The practice of hiring out enslaved workers in exchange for a wage paid to their owner was quite common, especially in urban areas. In fact, hiring transactions happened much more frequently than sales, and most enslaved individuals in the South would be contracted out to work for someone who did not own them at least once during their lifetimes…
“For a sum of $8 per month, paid to Dr. Baker, John Freeman was sent to work in President Jefferson’s White House. His duties included waiting at the dining table, taking care of the hall and dining room, and possibly attending to the president personally, although Jefferson generally avoided having a manservant…
“Jefferson agreed to purchase John Freeman from Dr. Baker, who stipulated in the contract that John was to be given his freedom in 1815 … President Madison freed Freeman in 1815 according to the terms of the contract originally set out by Dr. Baker but continued to employ him as a dining room servant until the end of his presidency.”3
The concept of owning people should be a repugnant stench in the nostrils of believers. I’m horrified to think that many in early America and even through our early American history claimed to be Christians yet believed in slavery. Such a practice rejects the truth of Philippians 2:3-4. “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. (4) Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
The Christian attitude towards others is also spoken of by Paul in Romans 1:14. “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.”
Do we see ourselves this way? Do we feel a debt owed to all of humanity because of our relationship to God through Jesus Christ? Do we look at our fellow man and acknowledge that we are not any better than him? Do we look at him and say, “He is better than me!” This is what Paul taught to those in Philippi.
Our forefathers wanted to end servitude to England while deeming others only good enough to be owned. Though we may not own anyone today, our attitude towards others may reflect the same hypocrisy of Jefferson and Madison.
May God give us a good dose of humility if we think that way!
1https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-american-revolution-begins
2https://www.military.com/memorial-day/how-many-us-militay-members-died-each-american-war.html
3https://www.whitehousehistory.org/slavery-freedom-and-the-struggle-to-keep-a-family-together
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