DEFINING MOMENTS
I recently visited the James Madison Museum in Orange, VA. It was interesting to learn of the close friendship between Thomas Jefferson, Madison and James Monroe. Our third, fourth and fifth presidents. And the crucial role of Madison in creating the United States Constitution.
But of the many historical nuggets one got my attention. It was a small note in the Enslaved Community exhibit. It said, “Slavery was not brought in with the Colonists it was introduced by Great Britain to their colonies.” Great Britain was very involved in the slave trade for years spreading it across their many colonies, mostly in the Americas. But unlike the United States they never had slavery in England.
In 1833 when the British abolished slavery in most British colonies, they freed more than 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South America as well as a small number in Canada. They had already banned Atlantic slave trade in 1807, the United States banned it the following year. But it could have been so much different for America. If only our first president had followed some godly advice.
On May 26, 1785 General George Washington, soon to be President of the United States had a meeting with Dr. Thomas Coke, a Welsh missionary sent to America by John Wesley and Francis Asbury, a Methodist preacher. They asked Washington to sign a petition opposing slavery and free his own slaves. Washington expressed his personal opposition to slavery but declined to sign the petition or free his slaves.
The preachers knew the future of the United States was in the balance. It took another eighty years for slavery to be banned. In the meantime, the nation was torn apart, more than seven hundred thousand Americans were killed in our Civil War and we still live with the taint of racism to this day.
If Washington had taken a stand. And convinced the slave owners who were at the Constitutional Convention to take a bold stand and outlaw slavery from the beginning of the republic, this country would be vastly different.
In Exodus 3:10 God spoke to Moses and said, “Now go to the king! I am sending you to lead my people out of his country.” Moses had a defining moment in his life. He took a stand, exercised leadership and led his enslaved people out of Egypt.
We all experience defining moments in our lives when we must take a stand for what is right, regardless of the cost or consequence. When that day comes in your life be willing to do it.