Tom Cotton describes slavery as a 'necessary evil' in bid to keep schools from teaching 1619 Project

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/27/politics/tom-cotton-slavery-necessary-evil-1619-project/index.html

Though the founding fathers were divided on the issue of slavery, with some of them having owned slaves and others being opposed to it, there doesn't appear to be a record of any of them arguing slavery in the US was a "necessary evil."