This is the second post in a series on slavery in America. The first was on the Three-Fifths Compromise and its true intentions and impact. Click here to read it.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.[ref]http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/[/ref]
How could a country founded upon the above truths tolerate slavery?
Why did our constitution not abolish it?
These are frustrating and difficult questions. There is no denying the presence of a fundamental contradiction during our country’s birth. On one hand, the idea of all men being equal before God and having the God given right to be free provided the intellectual fuel for the revolution against the British King. On the other, the country allowed the practice of slavery. Those enslaved were not treated as equal but were stripped of all freedom. Slavery was in exact and total opposition to the preamble of the Declaration of Independence.
The existence of this contradiction is used by many to discredit our constitution and founding fathers. The founding fathers owned slaves, so clearly they were unfit for establishing an ethical and appropriate system of government. Likewise, our constitution failed to prevent such an atrocity, so it also is unworthy for our contemporary society. This is similar to the attacks our constitution faces in regards to the three-fifths compromise (which is why I dealt with it as a specific example in the previous post). And just like in the previous case, what the past existence of slavery in America says about our constitution is the exact opposite of what is pushed in the common vernacular.
A Worldwide Institution
Let’s first take a very brief look at the history of slavery and its status at the founding of our country.
Slavery as an institution stretches back to the beginning of human civilization. Ancient records can be found of one person group enslaving another. It seems that at one time or another, members of each major race were enslaved. Slavery was not always race based, however. Often, it was the result of war and conquest.
So there were many different forms of slavery involving all various people groups stretching over the entire course of human existence. By the end of the 1700s, slavery had evolved into distinct forms in the different parts of the world. In Western civilization, it was primarily race-based and was hereditary. The African slave trade provided the fuel. Certain African tribes enslaved other Africans and sold them to slave traders. The slaves were then transported to Western countries in absolutely deplorable conditions.
Around 1776 society’s view of slavery was vastly different than it is today. Its ubiquity worldwide relegated it to acceptance by the masses. Many may have had issues with it and viewed it as a necessary evil, but it was difficult to imagine civilization without it.
I do not share any of this to downplay the atrocity which slavery was. It is important to understand the way slavery was viewed by the society in order to evaluate the government the founders established.
The Efficacy of the Constitution and Our Founding Principles
We all know popularity does not signify morality. And the very founding of our nation was a breakaway from the norm. The typical society was ruled by tyrants and despots, and the same principles which conflicted with slavery were stood upon to form our new society. Why could slavery simply not have been an additional way in which our founders broke away from the rest of the world? What does the failure to do so say about the principles of our government?
It actually says very little about the principles of our government and a whole lot about the nature of man.
It is often pointed out that many of the founders owned slaves. In fact, Thomas Jefferson, the very man who penned the Declaration of Independence, owned slaves! Likewise, George Washington owned slaves, and both of them appeared conflicted about it. You can tell if you examine their writings they knew something was wrong with slavery. So why did they not free their slaves?
I have no idea. Were they greedy? Did they fear for their families livelihood by thinking they couldn’t compete with other farms without the slave labor? Did they trick themselves into thinking a rapid transition from slavery to freedom would actually be bad for blacks? (Robert E. Lee of the confederate army had writings which seem to suggest this line of thinking).
We can’t know if it’s any of the above, some combination, or another unknown reason. What we can be certain of is none of the reasons are sufficient. Thomas Jefferson in particular should have realized the contradiction between the slaves complete and total lack of liberty and the endowed rights of all men from their Creator. This doesn’t mean the Declaration of Independence was wrong in its assertions. Moreover, the Declaration was correct; it was Jefferson and others’ actions which were in the wrong.
None of us fully realize and live up to the principles we espouse. We are imperfect people who make mistakes. Likewise, our government initially failed to live up to its own principles. At the constitutional convention, the room was full of fallen, sinful humans. They had to frame together a constitution which would not only be agreed upon by them but by all the states they represented. There were many individuals present who did not own slaves and pushed for slavery’s immediate abolition. But the stark and unfortunate truth was too many sinful humans partaking in the injustice of slavery were present. To demand for slavery’s immediate abolition was to kill the country before it could ever begin. But the abolitionists did achieve some victories.
The principles laid forth in the Declaration of Independence and the constitution’s ability to be amended laid the groundwork for the eventual abolition of slavery. The slave trade was immediately outlawed, and the three-fifths compromise weakened the political power of the slave states. The seeds were planted for the eventual uprooting of slavery. It took many more decades and a devastating civil war, but victory was always inevitable. A divided house cannot stand, and our founding fathers successfully established a government which could not possibly tolerate slavery indefinitely.
Our government’s initial allowance of slavery is exactly why it is so important for us to hold our government to its stated principles. When our government strays away from them, it is liable to commit atrocities and trample on the rights of individuals. When we give the government more power, we give the individuals who serve in it more power. And our nation’s history is littered with examples of sinful humans either abusing their power within government or failing to do what was right. Our own Supreme Court has upheld segregation by race, said African Americans could not be citizens, and endorsed forced sterilization in the name of eugenics. Because the government is made up of flawed individuals, it too can never be perfect. We should be wary of its propensity for failure and resist granting it unnecessary power.
With slavery, our government was immediately out of step with its own principles. Slavery’s defeat is an example of moving our government closer to the preamble of the Declaration of Independence. But in many other ways we are drifting farther from the constitution. Politicians conjure up arguments like saying the constitution is a “living document” to excuse their circumvention of it. The separation of powers is dwindling and at times nonexistent, and an ever more powerful government is growing which regularly tramples the liberties of its citizenry.
When we look back and see how our country initially allowed slavery, we should not view our entire governmental system as illegitimate. If we were to disregard our government’s founding principles because of initial failures to live up to those principles, we would actually open our citizenry up to more tyrannical injustices like slavery. Instead, we should realize it is prone to failure because humans are prone to failure.
Therefore, we should recognize the God-endowed rights of man as stated in the Declaration of Independence, and continually strive to move our government ever closer to realizing those ideals.
This is the second of a series of three posts involving slavery in America. The final post will look at the moral injustice which is the atrocity of today – and examine its stark similarities to slavery.