While wrestling with the usual security, social, and economic issues, U. S. voters not only voted for a political party and/or an individual candidate, but they also voted for the end of centuries of shame and guilt associated with racism. The citizens of the U.S.A. have had to battle racism, both real and perceived, since the first slaves were brought to the country in 1619.
White Quakers in Philadelphia formally began denouncing the practice of slavery in 1688. The Republican Party formed in 1854 with its main issue the abolition of slavery. After the Civil War, the emancipation of slaves, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Constitutional Amendments to integrate Blacks into full citizenship, the country was still plagued with racism as the Democratic Party instituted and maintained segregation through Jim Crow laws and black codes, enforced they its terrorist arm, the Ku Klux Klan.
Racism’s Recession
After the 1960s civil rights laws were passed, American racism finally began to recede and has been doing so ever since through the efforts of leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who reminded Americans of the Founding Fathers’ claim that “all men are created equal.”