The Connecticut state Democratic Party voted on Wednesday to remove the names of two American presidents from its annual fundraising dinner. Apparently under pressure from the NAACP, in only two minutes Wednesday night, Democratic Party leaders introduced and unanimously passed a resolution to remove the names of Democratic presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson from its annual fundraising dinner, previously called the Jefferson Jackson Bailey dinner, because of their history of owning slaves, reports the Connecticut Post.
No new name was adopted, but Democrats said they would accept suggestions before making their final decision in September or October, according to the Hartford Courant.
The move comes in the aftermath of last month's deadly shooting of nine African-American worshipers at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The ensuing debate over the removal of Confederate flags from federal properties also prompted the decision.
The main deciding factor, though, was that Jefferson and Jackson owned slaves, Democrats said. Jackson's role in forcing Native Americans to give up their land in the southeastern U.S. and migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma, a journey referred to as the Trail of Tears, was also cited by lawmakers.
"I see it as the right thing to do," Nick Balletto, the Democratic Party's first-year chairman, told the Post on Wednesday night. "I wasn't looking to be a trailblazer or set off a trend that's going to affect the rest of the country. Hopefully, they'll follow suit when they see it's the right thing to do."
Some historians, such as Robert Turner, a law professor at the Jefferson-founded University of Virginia, criticized the move as a politically correct overstep.
"It is a sad and short-sighted decision based upon tragic ignorance," said Turner, who has studied and written extensively about Jefferson, reports the Post.
December 6 marks the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment of the Constitution, which officially abolished slavery.
"The authors of that amendment purposely chose language drafted by Jefferson in an unsuccessful effort to outlaw slavery in the Northwest Territories as a means of honoring Jefferson's struggle against slavery," Turner said. "If (Democrats) understood Jefferson's lifelong opposition to slavery, they would have reached a different conclusion."
