June 28, 2011
George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s Good Morning America recently gave Michele Bachmann an opportunity to clear up one of her incorrect assertions regarding American history. In this case, it was her statement that the founding fathers worked hard to ban slavery. Stephanopoulos explained to Bachman that slavery was not banned for nearly 80-100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Bachman responded that President John Quincy Adams worked hard to eradicate slavery.
Bachman: Well if you look at one of our Founding Fathers, John Quincy Adams, that’s absolutely true. He was a very young boy when he was with his father serving essentially as his father’s secretary. He tirelessly worked throughout his life to make sure that we did in fact one day eradicate slavery….
Stephanopoulos: He wasn’t one of the Founding Fathers – he was a president, he was a Secretary of State, he was a member of Congress, you’re right he did work to end slavery decades later. But so you are standing by this comment that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery?
Bachman: : Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved.
For the record, John Quincy Adams was born July 11, 1767, nine years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was therefore nine years old when the founding fathers declared independence from England.
The Michele Bachmann American history lesson video
R.J. Intindola