In the election conducted on December 15, 1788 George Washington received fewer than 40,000 votes in his home state of Virginia. At the time Virginia had a population of a little over 700,000. In other words only 5 people out of every 100 even were eligible to vote for our first President George Washington. The women, the slaves, the Indians and the white men that did not own enough property were not allowed. In the preamble to the Constitution, the words "We the People " the word people is capitalized. When a word is capitalized in the middle of a sentence, the word must be a proper noun. If the word was not capitalized, the word "people" would be a common noun. The common noun for the people refers to all of the people, while the word People when it is capitalized in the middle of a sentence it is referring to a specific group of people.
The Constitution was written by the People, but not for the people.
The People who drafted the Constitution were rich, white men who owned a great deal of property. Most of them were well educated and most of them were lawyers.
Many of the provisions written into the Constitution were added to protect the rights of the People, but not all of the people.
Proof that what I have written is unfortunately true.
Rules for Capitalization Click Here
The Federalist Papers Click Here
Population of Virginia in 1790 Click Here
Presidential Election of 1788 Click Here
Replies
This may be how the Professor interprets the Constitution, it is not how the United States Supreme Court have interpreted the statement. The Professor like most Socialist of the Democratic party want to play the class warfare and racism game...sorry Professor it will not work!
You sound like Al Sharpton in this screed.
Is this the "Constitution Club," or the "Anti-Constitution Club?"
We would like to know.......
Ask any competent English professor that when a word in the middle of a sentence is capitalized, what part of speech must it be?" If the word people in the middle is capitalized it is a proper noun. When the people is not capitalized in the middle of a sentence it is a common noun. The proper noun People refers to a specific group or people, while the common noun people refers to a much larger group of people..
I would be inclined to weigh in with the professor on this one. Benjamin Franklin once told a woman that the form of government for the people was a republic (lower case r), as opposed to the Republican Party which delineates a specific group of people. I would have to disagree with the assertion however that the Constitution only protected some of the people, but not all of them.
Although the common language may be referred to as vulgar, common law was fairly well understood even in that era among even the poorest Americans. Any generality referring to the People, would not leave any room for further definitions or translations. It is what it is. Noah Webster created his dictionary for the purpose of clearing any confusion and getting everyone on the same page. Although known history may bear many of the professors assertions out, we have also come to adopt truths from the past that still apply today.
THE FEDERALIST PAPERS EXPLAIN ALL.NO NEED TO TRY TO REINTERPIT .
The Federalist's Papers were written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Have you read the Anti-Federalist Papers which were written by Major Anti-Federalist authors included Cato (likely George Clinton), Brutus (likely Robert Yates), Centinel (Samuel Bryan), and the Federal Farmer (either Melancton Smith, Richard Henry Lee, or Mercy Otis Warren). Speeches by Patrick Henry and Smith are often included as well.
I suspect that you have only read the arguments in favor of the Constitution and that you have not read the opinions of those that opposed the ratification.
I haven't read the Anti-Federalist papers, and I've only scanned the Federalist Papers once. Perhaps you could provide some links to those documents. I do remember in Patrick Henry's speech that "I am determined to know the truth and the worst of it." It is difficult to overcome a penchant for wanting something to be true, but the only way to be certain is to search it all out, and weigh the evidence of those truths in the balance.
Do we still hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal?
The Anti-Federalist Papers
Click Here
The Federalist Papers
Click Here
So like always money comes into play for the people. The people with money has always called the shots, and always will.
-
1
-
2
-
3
of 3 Next