White isn't an ethnic group, especially not to these people because...
Their concept of White didn't include German
Liberalism itself is about Civic Nationalism. The founding fathers are Liberals. Their question was whether or not any other people besides the Protestant Anglos could engage in Liberalism, and Franklin was certain the Germans couldn't, and most of them assumed the Catholics wouldn't.
White isn't an ethnic group, especially not to these people because...
Their concept of White didn't include German
Liberalism itself is about Civic Nationalism. The founding fathers are Liberals. Their question was whether or not any other people besides the Protestant Anglos could engage in Liberalism, and Franklin was certain the Germans couldn't, and most of them assumed the Catholics wouldn't.