- 3 hours ago ... Political TV host Bill O'Reilly defended the use of White House slaves mentioned in...
Bill O'Reilly defends use of White House slaves mentioned by Michelle Obama, says they were ‘well-fed and had decent lodging’
Political TV host Bill O’Reilly defended the United States' use of slave labor after Michelle Obama highlighted the fact that the White House “was built by slaves” during her DNC address.
"The O'Reilly Factor" host, while fact-checking Obama’s remarks, said on his show Tuesday that the slaves who toiled from 1792 to 1800 to build the White House were “well-fed and had decent lodging.”
O'Reilly added a caveat to his research when he noted that the federal government stopped its use of slave labor in 1802. By then, construction on the White House had finished.
The First Lady’s emotional speech, reflecting on the past eight years living at the White House as its first African-American family, inspired O'Reilly's fact-finding mission.Bill O'Reilly says the slaves used in building the White House were “well fed and had decent lodging."
(Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)
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"I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves," Obama said. "I watch my daughters — two beautiful, intelligent, black young women — playing with their dogs on the White House lawn."
The claim drove O’Reilly to clarify the history behind the White House’s construction.An early drawing of the White House, which has been the residence of every president since John Adams in 1800.
(Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)
"Slaves did participate in the construction of the White House," said O’Reilly, noting that the federal government made nearly 400 payments to slave masters in the construction of the executive mansion.
"In addition, free blacks, white and immigrants also worked on the massive building," he said. "Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working as well."
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His history lesson mirrors White House Historical Association findings that acknowledge the use of slaves as carpenters and stone masons in building the President's home, but its records make no reference to how the slaves were treated.
The slaves worked on other early federal facilities in D.C., including in the U.S. Capitol. Washington commissioners intended to import workers from Europe, but they failed to recruit enough personnel.First Lady Michelle Obama highlights the fact that she wakes up every morning in a house that was built by slaves.
(J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The association stated that slaves were trained to quarry and cut rough stone in Aquia, Va., which was then laid by Scottish masons. Historians also noted that "the slaves joined a workforce that included local white laborers and artisans from Maryland and Virginia, as well as immigrants from Ireland, Scotland, and other European nations."
As President Obama took office in 2009, National Archives researcher Reginald Washington pored over historical documents detailing the extent of slave labor at the White House.The National Archives are home to payroll documents, including this page from December 1794, that detail the use of slave labor in the construction of the White House.
(National Archives)
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Slave owners provided clothing and blankets while city commissions supplied food and housing for slaves, but those living quarters were "not much more than huts," Washington explained to NPR.
Washington learned that slaves were listed by first name only and earned lower wages than white workers, according to old Treasury records housed at the National Archives. However, the slaves' earnings were claimed by their masters.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Bill O'Reilly defends use of White House slaves ?
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