239 years ago my ancestor, William Blount, started recruiting for the "American Revolution" to end Britain's colonialization of what we now call the USA. He was also a paymaster and fought in a few battles himself. 13 years later he became one of the 39 people to sign the US Constitution. He knew all of the founding fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Additionally, Andrew "Indian Killer" Jackson was one of his closest, most trusted allies. Amongst other political offices he held during his life, President George Washington appointed Blount Governor of the Southwest Territory in 1790.
But what all does this mean? For starters it means he helped negotiate the 3/5th compromise. As a representative for North Carolina this meant that he advocated for a slave to count in the census as more than 3/5th a person. Of course, this was not because he cared about black folks. The south had a higher concentration of slaves, so the higher the ratio the more power the south held in the new Federal Government. This type of negation to me shows exactly how little they cared about black folks. They were nothing but pawns for controlling power and wealth to white folks. This also means he helped write a document saying women could not vote or own property. It also means he helped intentionally craft a document to keep all poor folks from having the right to vote (because you could not vote unless you owned land).
He had a lot of self-interest in making sure only rich white male land-owners could vote. In part because he was known as an aggressive land speculator, and owned over 2.5 million acres of [stolen Indigenous] land to the west of the Appalachian Mountains by the 1790's. Under his watch, as Governor of the Southwest Territory, his administration, which included Andrew Jackson, was involved with various battles and treaties to steal Indigenous people's land and perpetuate genocide against the Indigenous.
This is the same Blount that Blount County, TN is named after, and Blount County, Alabama is named after his half-brother, who was a part of William's Administration in the Southwest Territory.
I have no intention in celebrating my ancestor William Blount's legacy today, July 4th, or any of the other people involved in this legacy that today represents.
