this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2025
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United States | News & Politics

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[–] Flamekebab@piefed.social 29 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Those first two columns have a UX person screaming somewhere.

[–] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

The fourth column too. + & < , left and right. It should have been < & > all on the left.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 days ago

I'm in the process of getting rid of all html tables in lemmy-ui because of this. 90% of us are on our phones and don't want to see squished content or have to scroll right.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 18 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Well, yeah. Owning slaves was an affluent male thing to do, and most politicians are those kinda people even today. If it wasn't abolished, I'm quite certain this would be 3/4, if not much, much higher.

I mean, do you think Trump, Bush(es), Clinton, Reagan, Kennedy or Nixon wouldn't own slaves? I can only see Obama and Carter (despite a peanut farm), and I'll venture a guess that Obama probably didn't get elected president in that fucked up parallel universe since voting rights are probably pretty different even if he was allowed to run.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

There is absolutely no way Carter wouldn't have had slaves.

[–] cornishon@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 4 days ago

I mean, do you think Trump, Bush(es), Clinton, Reagan, Kennedy or Nixon wouldn’t own slaves

Clintons technically did. https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2017/06/the-clintons-had-slaves

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Special mention for Bill Clinton who benefited from penal slavery in the governor's mansion while governor of Arkansas.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

True...it could be 100% if we include the US's currently legal form of slavery: prison labour.

That's what I mean by penal slavery.

The reason I only included Clinton rather than every president who has benefitted from prison slave labor (which as you say is all of them), is that to my knowledge he's the only one who basically had house slaves provided to his home by the state prisons..

Capitalism is the modern extension of slavery; they are all complicit.

[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world 16 points 4 days ago (2 children)

After having read many books about the American revolution and the beginning of the u.s, Thomas Jefferson is the most duplicitous, hypocritical, full of shit dirtbag that ever was.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago

Truth. Jefferson is the equivalent of a William F Buckley, who could write bullshit so it sounded smart but had no actual thought or intelligent ideas beyond dressing up Greed. Jefferson was a fucking coward and a shit bag.

[–] dessalines@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Jefferson also virulently condemned the Haitian revolution, which was the first successful slave rebellion in the western hemisphere, and helped spread the abolition of slavery to the rest of the caribbean and south america.

Also for all the hamilton liberals, yes he owned slaves too, and that musical is whitewashing the US founding slaveowners.

[–] Drewmeister@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I don't think Jefferson comes across that great in Hamilton. His defense of the South and slavery is made pretty clear.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

Yeah but unfortunately Hamilton comes off good in Hamilton which is itself its own big problem.

People defend Jefferson for not releasing his slaves, saying anti slavery wasnt a thing to them. John Adam’s and his wife were anti slavey, and found it abhorrent. He liked to hire freed black men and didn’t allow slave servants in the White House. So clearly the idea that slavery was wrong was around and lots of people practiced it

[–] protist@mander.xyz 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Ulysses Grant did quite a bit of work to end slavery

[–] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Its still simultaneously true that he and the first lady owned a lot of slaves. He may have only personally owned one, but his wife had inherited many of them. If you visit the Grant’s Farm historical site in Missouri they dont hide that fact, and Missouri was the one Union state that was not forced to end enslavement practices. She had grown up on the same property as a girl, and her family owned a bit over 30 people there IIRC. They probably owned nearly as many, while actively fighting to end enslavement

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 12 points 4 days ago

*Not counting prison slavery

[–] octopus_ink@slrpnk.net 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

Whew not Sam Adams though! (nor Jr!)

edit - (and neither were presidents! Holy shit I'm developing a maga-level remembrance of history! 😁 )

[–] Maldaya@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's ok, you just got him confused with John Adams, his cousin, who was the second president (and his son John Quincy Adams the 6th president.)

[–] octopus_ink@slrpnk.net 7 points 4 days ago

While I thank you for that clarification and you are absolutely correct, it doesn't change my assessment of the error on my part. 😢🙂

[–] sartalon@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Was searching the post to see if someone else pointed out that neither Adams was on the list.

Thank you for the laugh this morning.

Everytime I see Sam Adams mentioned, I always think of Sam Jackson beer.

[–] octopus_ink@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 days ago

Everytime I see Sam Adams mentioned, I always think of Sam Jackson beer.

😂 Oh same, and I really wish Chappelle would do a 3.0 version of himself. (or at least like a 2.3 or 2.whateveritwouldbe) I'd love to be able to enjoy his humor again.

[–] Kenny2999@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

+1 if ya include presidents who thought slavery is not so bad.

[–] Croquette@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 days ago

It would be higher if slavery wasn't outlawed.

[–] ILikeTraaaains@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

For a moment my brain had a sort circuit and thought why Armin Van Buuren was in a list of USA presidents who owned slaves.