8/14/2023 0 Comments Francis scott key family treeIs there any wonder that Key's peers described him variously in Leepson's book as "a friend of men of color" and as a bigot whose "little heart … cannot be bigger than a cherry"? "That was a gutsy thing for him to do."īut on other occasions, Key represented slave owners trying to recapture their "possessions." "It was rare for a white lawyer to do that," Leepson says. What raised eyebrows was that Key also donated his legal services to some African-Americans who were fighting for their freedom under a 1783 law that prohibited slaveholders from other states from bringing their human chattel into Maryland to live. So if Key "was an early and ardent opponent of slave trafficking," according to Leepson, it wouldn't necessarily strike his peers as inconsistent that he owned slaves himself. Most people thought that was a perfectly normal way for life to be." In 1814, slavery was everywhere in society. "You can't look at the 19th century through the eyes of the 21st century. "You have to put Key's views in context," Palmer says. But they were a small minority and were regarded as the radical fringe. But so did most other white people in the 19th century, including Abraham Lincoln.Ī few white people, notably Quakers, were far-sighted enough to see enslaved blacks as their equals, according to Annette Palmer, chair of Morgan State University's history and geography department. It's true that he thought black people were intellectually and morally inferior to whites, and said so in no uncertain terms. His contradictions were America's contradictions." "Risking his life to defend black people was not something that he had to do. "I'm very torn about Key," Whitehead says. Is Key to be celebrated for the few instances in which he clearly saw and stood up for what was right, at one point, even putting himself in danger? Or should he be held accountable for his - and his society's - blind spots? Key's poetic oeuvre - a leaden mash of cliches enlivened by one flash of honesty and insight - seems not unlike his record regarding race relations. In his entire life, the man wrote exactly one inspired verse.ĭespite a lifelong habit of penning rhymes, Key was "a really bad amateur poet," Leepson says, "with one brilliant exception." Deeply pious, and with a rather conventional turn of mind, Key was highly intelligent without being especially intellectual. Key was possessed of formidable diplomatic and oratorical skills, and from an early age, career success seemed assured. People liked "Frank," as he was called, and smiled when they saw him coming. He was lusty (if the contents of an erotic poem attributed to him are to be believed), a family man and the father of 11 children. He was handsome and well-educated, born to an aristocratic family on a plantation in Carroll County, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the good things that life had to offer. But his legacy regarding slavery was cloudy."Īnd yet the Francis Scott Key who emerges from the pages of Leepson's book is one of those people upon whom the sun always seemed to shine. "He helped shape the national debate on slavery, which was the No. "Key was an important player in the young republic," Leepson says.
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