A Unified American Nation...for freedom

On page 202 of His Excellency, Ellis describes a 1790 attempt to end slavery. "Whatever [Washington's] personal views on slavery may have been, his highest priority was the creation of a unified American nation."

This formulation does not do justice to the magnitude of the deeper issue. A "unified American nation"? For what purpose?

America wasn't just a new nation. It was the first nation in history dedicated expressly to the idea of individual rights. It was radical. It still is, given how many are willing to give it up at the first sign of pressure.

But the point here is that it was fragile at its birth, as cited in Ellis' book. To be precise, protecting his own and his country's fragile freedom was Washington's highest priority and a unified American nation was the means to that end.

Did everyone understand that freedom? No. Was it universally applied immediately after millenniums of slavery across the world? No. The revolution had just started. Slavery was a horrible, "in your face" contradiction and the Founding Fathers knew it. Tragically, resolving that contradiction took time and rivers of blood.