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Oops! Michele Bachmann on ‘GMA’ tackles another history question

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann discussed more history this morning with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Stephanopoulos wanted to know about her contention that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann discussed more history this morning with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Stephanopoulos wanted to know about her contention that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery. That part of the interview:

Stephanopoulos: … I wondered if you wanted to take a chance to clear up some of your past statements. For example earlier this year you said that the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence worked tirelessly to end slavery. Now with respect Congresswoman, that’s just not true. Many of them including Jefferson and Washington were actually slave holders and slavery didn’t end until the Civil War.

Bachmann: Well you know what’s marvelous is that in this country and under our constitution, we have the ability when we recognize that something is wrong to change it. And that’s what we did in our country. We changed it. We no longer have slavery. That’s a good thing. And what our Constitution has done for our nation is to give us the basis of freedom unparalleled in the rest of the world.

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Stephanopoulos: I agree with that …

Bachmann: That’s what people want … they realize our government is taking away our freedom.

Stephanopoulos: But that’s not what you said. You said that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery.

Bachmann: 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?

Bachmann: Well, John Quincy Adams most certainly was a part of the Revolutionary War era. He was a young boy but he was actively involved.