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2008 Text 4

In 1784,

five

years before

he became president of

the

United States,

George Washington, 52,

was

nearly toothless. So he hired a dentist to transplant

nine teeth

into his jaw

–

having extracted them

from

the mouths of his slaves.

That’s

a

far

di

fferent

image

from

the

cherry-tree-chopping

George

most

people

remember

from

their

history books. But recently

,

many

historians have begun to

focus on the roles slavery played

in the

lives of the founding generation.

①

They have been spurred in part by DNA evidence made available

in 1998,

which almost certainly

proved

Thomas Jefferson had

fathered at

least one child

with his

slave Sally Hemings.

And only over

the past 30

years

have scholars examined history

from

the bottom

up. Works of several historians rev

eal the moral compromises made by the nation’s early leaders and the

fragile nature of the country’s infancy

. More significantly, they argue that many of the Founding Fathers

knew slavery was wrong

–

and yet most did little to fight it.

More

than

anything,

the

historians

say

,

the

founders

were

hampered

by

the

culture

of

their

time.

While Washington and Jefferson privately expressed distaste for slavery

, they also understood that it was

part of the political and economic bedrock of the country they helped to create.

For one thing, the South could not afford

to part

with

its slaves. Owning

slaves

was

“like

having a

large bank account,” says Wiencek,

author of An

Imperfect

God:

George Washington,

His Slaves, and

the

Creation

of

America.

②

The

southern

states

would

not

have

signed

the

Constitution

without

protections for the “peculiar institution,” including a clause that counted a slave as three fifths of a

man for purposes of congressional representation.

And the statesmen’s political

lives depended on slavery

.

The three-fifths

formula

handed Jefferson

his narrow victory

in the presidential election of 1800 by

inflating

the votes of the southern states

in the

Electoral College. Once

in office,

Jefferson extended slavery with the

Louisiana Purchase

in 1803; the

new land was carved into 13 states, including three slave states.

Still,

Jefferson

freed

Hemings’s

children

–

though

not

Hemings

herself

or

his

approximately

150

other slaves. Washington, who

had begun to believe

that all

men

were created equal

after observing the

bravery

of

the

black

soldiers

during

the

Revolutionary

War,

overcame

the

strong

opposition

of

his

relatives

to

grant

his

slaves

their

freedom

in

his

will.

Only

a

decade

earlier,

such

an

act

would

have

required legislative approval in Virginia.

1

36. George Washington

’

s dental surgery is mentioned to

[A] show the primitive medical practice in the past.

[B] demonstrate the cruelty of slavery in his days.

[C] stress the role of slaves in the U.S. history

.

[D] reveal some unknown aspect of his life.

37. We may infer from the second paragraph that

[A] DNA technology has been widely applied to history research.

[B] in its early days the U.S. was confronted with delicate situations.

[C] historians deliberately made up some stories of Jefferson

’

s life.

[D] political compromises are easily found throughout the U.S. history

.

38. What do we learn about Thomas Jefferson?

[A] His political view changed his attitude towards slavery

.

[B] His status as a father made him free the child slaves.

[C] His attitude towards slavery was complex.

[D] His affair with a slave stained his prestige.

39. Which of the following is true according to the text?

[A] Some Founding Fathers benefit politically from slavery

.

[B] Slaves in the old days did not have the right to vote.

[C] Slave owners usually had large savings accounts.

[D] Slavery was regarded as a peculiar institution.

40. Washington

’

s decision to free slaves originated from his

[A] moral considerations.

[B] military experience.

[C] financial conditions.

[D] political stand.

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