President Joe Biden and each of the living former U.S. presidents, with the exception of former President Donald Trump, all had at least one ancestor who was a slaveholder, according to a report from Reuters.
Reuters examined the genealogies of members of the American political elite, including current and former presidents, members of Congress, the Supreme Court, and governors. The examination found that at least 100 members of the last sitting Congress, which had 536 members, are direct descendants of ancestors who enslaved Black people, representing at least 8% of Democrats in Congress and 28% of Republicans.
Additionally, 28 members of the Senate, more than one-quarter, can trace their families to a slave-owning ancestor.
This includes Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Tom Cotton (Ark.), and James Lankford (Okla.), and Democrats Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), and Maggie Hassan (N.H.).
Former President Donald Trump is the only living former U.S. president not descended from slaveholders. President Joe Biden and the other living former presidents — Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama — are all descended from ancestors who owned slaves.
Eleven governors in 2022 were descended from slaveholders, as were two U.S. Supreme Court justices.
The congressional slaveholding ancestors were among the richest in America before the Civil War; three-quarters were among the richest 10%.
In researching America's political elite, Reuters found names of more than 700 people enslaved by ancestors of the leaders.
Some 23% of respondents to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll said knowing that a candidate's ancestors enslaved people would make them less likely to vote for that candidate, and white respondents who said they're aware of having a slaveholding ancestor were more likely than other white people to support paying reparations for slavery.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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