A few years ago, I published a book, “Integrated Justice and Equality,” and included this story of Kosciuszko…with a ‘z’. I think it’s not only a worthy read, but it fits his birthday (today in 1746) and is suitable for Black History Month. Cokiesha Bailey Robinson and Ben Navarro, along with the rest of us, have the joy and ministry of welcoming students from many different backgrounds to our campus.
Kosciusko is known as the Polish patriot. He came to the American Colonies in order to serve the cause of freedom…a cause he was eager to take back to Poland. His career under George Washington was amazing. What can an engineer like Thaddeus K do? He built what we now call West Point and many other such wonders. But he was on a mission. Here’s his story as it relates to slavery:
“We might begin our exploration of the economic aspects of Rawlsian social justice by considering Thomas Jefferson, the great author of American liberty. In his old age Jefferson was pressed by his friend Thaddeus Kosciuszko (1746–1817) to free his 126 slaves. This Polish-born patriot came to the British colony of America to fight for freedom, becoming famous as George Washington’s builder and the hero of West Point. Long after the revolution, Kosciuszko made Jefferson the executor of his will, part of which read like a precursor to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
“Kosciuszko was passionate about the cause of liberty for all people, including slaves, stating that if he had known the American Revolution was going to result in the constitutional recognition of racial slavery, he would not have offered what turned out to be his considerable assistance.
“Even though Kosciuszko’s American estate, funded by his American military work as an engineer, was sufficient to reimburse Jefferson’s estate for the $28,000 loss in value it would incur if all of Jefferson’s slaves were emancipated, Jefferson refused due to his fears for the Union.
“Jefferson wrote to a friend,”The question of slavery breaking apart the Union hit me ‘like a fire bell in the night and awakened me with terror. . . . But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation is in the other.’“
“Unlike William Wilberforce and Martin Luther King who came after him, Jefferson was unable to confront the issue of racial slavery due to the economic nature of slavery in the land-based agrarian South. Justice and economic realities were in conflict.”
“It is important to note that Jefferson was quite old when he became executor of Kosciuszko’s estate and doubted his ability to see the job through. However, if Jefferson had freed his slaves, Kosciuszko’s estate would have reimbursed Jefferson for his loss. This income would also have been an aid to him as a man significantly in debt. Jefferson may have opposed slavery in general and may have allowed for the education of some of his slaves, but, unlike George Washington, he did not free his slaves even with the inducement of Kosciuszko’s well-financed plea that he do so.”
“We may be as frustrated as Thaddeus Kosciuszko that the injustice of racial slavery survived the American Revolution. Slavery sustained the static agricultural plantation model that enriched the landed elite yet ended violently with the Civil War. That war did not end racism, but it did end the Southern agricultural model, and the Northern industrial model became the dominant American capitalism. (Acton Institute, 2014 p67-68).
Does anyone remember Kosciusko today? Yes! He’s likely the most popular star of the Polish galaxy. You can visit an unusual mound in Krakow, Poland, in his honor. This mound at 112’ is so impressive that an explorer named the tallest (and mound-like) mountain in Australia as Mt Kosciusko. His statue is still in Chicago’s Grant Park in front of the Adler Planetarium, where he is sitting on his horse with his sword raised in the air…and pointing at the dome on top of the courthouse of Kosciusko County in Warsaw, Indiana….at least that what I told our sons back in the day.
The scriptures, often misquoted to extents that are tragic, indicate that people of every tongue, tribe and nation will be present when life leaves ‘time’ and becomes ‘eternal.’ Let’s get started now.