Stephen E. Ambrose debates the effects owning slaves had on the reputations of our founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington in particular, in his essay “Founding Fathers and Slaveholders”. Jefferson, one of our most educated Presidents, is known positively for his way with words as the author of the Declaration of Independence, but negatively for his lack of action and serious prejudice towards women, Native Americans, and African Americans. Jefferson never freed his slaves, and that fact along with several other faults in his personal life, such as his casual disregard for money and his adulterous relationship with one of his slaves, put him in the position to be remembered poorly in history. By eventually granting his own