Many of the Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, owned slaves and believed that slavery was a necessary evil in order to maintain the economic and social order of the United States. They saw nothing wrong with owning slaves and believed that black people were inferior to white people. Additionally, their wealth was often dependent on slavery, as many of them owned large plantations and relied on slave labor to maintain their livelihoods. While there were some Founding Fathers who opposed slavery, such as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, they were in the minority and were not able to convince their colleagues to take a stronger stand against it.