He was "cold-blooded" when giving instructions on purchasing slaves and favored adolescent females "who could maximize the number of slave children," Chernow added.
切尔诺补充说,他在指导购买奴隶时很“冷血”,而且偏爱“能最大限度地增加奴隶子女数量”的青春期女性。
Washington considered himself a kind master, but he also felt entitled to the maximum amount of work from his slaves, often complaining about slaves he considered lazy or who stole in letters. Referring to a slave named Betty, Washington wrote in one letter that "a more lazy, deceitful and impudent hussy is not to be found in the United States."
华盛顿认为自己是一个善良的主人,但他也觉得自己有权让奴隶为他进行最大限度的劳动,她经常在信中抱怨他认为懒惰或偷东西的奴隶。在提到一个名叫贝蒂的奴隶时,华盛顿在一封信中写道:“在美国,再也找不到一个更懒惰、更不诚实、更厚颜无耻的粗野女子。”
"He never regarded such behavior as a rational response to bondage," Chernow noted. His wife, Martha Washington, treated the slaves well, but also refused to tolerate shirkers and expected loyalty and affection from her favorite slaves.
切尔诺指出:“他从未将这种行为视为对奴役的合理反应。”他的妻子玛莎·华盛顿对奴隶们很好,但也拒绝容忍推卸责任的人,并期望得到她喜爱的奴隶的忠诚和爱。
Ellis has said that the Founding Fathers—wrongly—assumed that slavery would "die a natural death." He has argued for the Founding Fathers to be humanized, saying they were flawed men who are too often put on a pedestal.
埃利斯说,开国元勋错误地认为奴隶制度会“自然死亡”,他主张开国元勋应该人道,并表示他们是有缺陷的人,但经常被人奉为偶像。
"To be sure, the founders thought they knew that slavery was incompatible with the values on which the American Revolution was based. Nobody disagreed with that... nobody said slavery was a positive good. Nobody," Ellis said in a 2017 speech. In another speech, he noted that although the founders were incredibly imaginative, one thing they could never picture was America as a "biracial society."
“可以肯定的是,开国元勋们认为他们知道奴隶制与美国革命所依据的价值观是不相容的。所有人都同意这一点……没有人说奴隶制是积极的。”埃利斯在2017年的一次演讲中说。在另一次演讲中,他指出,尽管开国元勋们有着难以置信的想象力,但有一件事他们永远无法想象,那就是美国是一个“混血社会”
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