Jonathan Turley Says James Madison ‘Did Have Enslaved Individuals on His Property’ – But ‘It’s Far More Complex Than That’

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley criticized the alleged wokification of James Madison’s Virginia estate and stated the fourth president and slaveowner “worked hard” to end slavery.

Highlighting a New York Post report about a liberal philanthropist giving a $10 million grant to Madison’s Montpelier property, American Reports anchor John Roberts noted no flags are displayed and said the site has “barely a peep” on his role in creating our current system of government.

“This is really something that should be alarming to all Americans,” Turley said. “You know, Madison is not just an American figure, he transformed political theory in his writings in the Federalist Papers. He laid the foundation for the world’s most successful democratic system.”

The George Washington University law professor stated that characterizing Madison as a slaveowner simply isn’t “nuanced.” He described Madison’s ownership of slaves as a situation where “he did have enslaved individuals on his property”:

And by the way, the discussion of Madison, the quote, “enslaver,” really misses a more fascinating and nuanced historical subject. If you are really interested in the history, it’s perfectly correct to note that he did have enslaved individuals on his property and that is something that we should acknowledge and deal with. But it’s far more complex than that.

If you take a look at what Madison did, he was against slavery, he wanted to see the end of slavery, he worked hard for it. Figures like Lafayette would visit him and they would have meetings of people who were abolitionists on this very property. That’s a far more interesting story that is not being told and that means it’s not historically true.

Madison did speak out against slavery after he retired from public life. Despite this opposition as an abstract matter, he never freed any of his more than 100 slaves, either in his lifetime or in his will.

He was also the chief architect of the Constitution, which allowed states to count three-fifths of their slave populations for the purposes of representation in the House of Representatives.

Watch above via Fox News.