Cotton Asked for Comments on Slavery in Criticism of Project 1619

Senator Tom CottonTom Bryant CottonWhite House, Congress Talks About Upcoming Coronavirus Relief Bill As COVID-19 Continues To Increase Conservative Blast In Supreme Court Ruling: Roberts ‘Dropped Oath’ WSJ Editorial Board Calls For employee concerns about ‘cancel culture’ opinion page MORE (R-Ark.) He faced criticism Sunday after claiming that the Founding Fathers viewed slavery as a “necessary evil” as part of the founding of the country while discussing their bill that would reduce federal funding for any school that includes the 1619 of the New York Times. Project on your resume.

In an interview with the Arkansas Democratic Gazette, the senator accused Project 1619, a series of pieces by writers for the Times examining the history of slavery in the United States and its role in founding the country, of being “propaganda from left. ” “

“Even a penny is too much to go to Project 1619 in our public schools,” Cotton told the media. “The New York Times shouldn’t be teaching American history to our children.”

Later in the interview, the Arkansas Republican discussed how he thought the legacy of slavery should be handled in the United States.

“We have to study the history of slavery and its role and impact in the development of our country because otherwise we cannot understand our country. As the Founding Fathers said, it was the necessary evil upon which the union was built, but the union was built in a way, as Lincoln said, to put slavery on the road to its final extinction, ”he said.

Those remarks were heavily criticized on Twitter by Nikole Hannah-Jones, reporter for the New York Times and director of Project 1619.

“If chattel slavery – the heritable, generational, permanent, race-based slavery where it was legal to rape, torture, and sell human beings for profit – was a ‘necessary evil’ as @TomCottonAR says, it’s hard to imagine what it cannot be justified if it is a means to an end, “he tweeted.

If chattel slavery – the heritable, generational, permanent, race-based slavery where it was legal to rape, torture and sell human beings for profit – was a “necessary evil” as @TomCottonAR says, it’s hard to imagine what it cannot be justified if it is a means to an end. https://t.co/yScNxPq6ds

– Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 26, 2020

Cotton replied in his own tweet, which was soon retweeted by President TrumpDonald John Trump Seattle police declare riots amid ongoing protests. Brazilian Bolsonaro says he tested positive for coronavirus. The Reagan Foundation asks the Trump campaign, RNC, to stop using the former president’s name to raise money. PLUS, writing that Jones’ statement amounted to “more lies from the discredited Project 1619.”

“Describing the * views of the Founders * and how they put the evil institution on the path to extinction, a point frequently raised by Lincoln, does not endorse or justify slavery,” he replied. “No wonder Project 1619 can’t understand the facts correctly.”

More lies from the discredited Project 1619.

Describing the * Founders’ views * and how they put the evil institution on the path to extinction, a point frequently raised by Lincoln, does not endorse or justify slavery.

No wonder Project 1619 cannot understand the facts. https://t.co/nLsb73X3Gi

– Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) July 26, 2020

Other journalists responded to Cotton’s interview and subsequent comments on Twitter, including Andrew Kaczynski of CNN, head of the network’s KFile investigative unit.

“Wasn’t the ‘necessary and wicked’ view of slavery by some founders like Tom Cotton basically quoted discarded by southerners once cotton became extremely profitable? McPherson, who criticizes the 1619 project, writes that in Battle Cry of Freedom, “he wrote, referring to Princeton University professor and Civil War historian James McPherson.

Wasn’t it the “necessary evil” view of slavery by some founders, as Tom Cotton says, that Southerners completely discarded once cotton became extremely profitable? McPherson, who is critical of the 1619 project, writes that in Battle Cry of Freedom. Https://t.co/LW0D8a3fxT

– Andrew Kaczynski (@KFILE) July 26, 2020

“You know … very little about the history of the United States,” added contributing Politico editor Joshua Zeitz in a tweet in response to Cotton. “The free labor thesis that predicted the eventual demise of slavery was a pre-war theory. It was post-Revolution for more than 50 years. And the Revolution produced a moment of abolition in the North (‘contagion of freedom ‘) “.

You know … very little about the history of the United States. The free labor thesis that predicted the eventual demise of slavery was a prewar theory. It was post-Revolution for over 50 years. And the Revolution produced a moment of abolition in the North (“contagion of freedom”). https://t.co/cRlqFNEJ0V

– Joshua Zeitz (@JoshuaMZeitz) July 26, 2020

Cotton’s bill, if passed, would direct the Department of Education to determine which schools were using Project 1619 briefs in classrooms and reduce federal funds in a way that reflects any “costs associated with teaching Project 1619, even in time planning and teaching hours. “

A report from the nonprofit Pulitzer Center, which awarded Hannah-Jones her annual Pulitzer Prize for her work on project 1619, says on its website that teachers in all 50 states have accessed educational materials related to the reports from the draft.

Updated at 10:20 pm to note that Senator Cotton referred to the views of the Founding Fathers in their original comments.