Conceived in Liberty or Tyranny?
Was this nation, truly conceived in liberty and did the government support the proposition that all men were created equal? The institution of slavery was a horrendous crime against humanity and for us to claim that our nation was conceived in liberty are wonderful words, but for the slaves their nation nation was built on slave labor.
The following words are from Abraham Lincoln
"I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
We have put our founding fathers on pedestals for creating a government that would violate the very principles that they claimed to embrace. The idea that all men were created equal only applied only appled to wthe Christian white men. The words of the founders spoke of equality and justice for all, but it did not apply to the millions of slaves who were denied their God given rights.
I know that this post will offend many, but the truth is that slavery could not have endured without the support of the Federal government. Congress and the Supreme Court endorsed the Fugitive Slave Law, the Black Codes and the Jim Crow Laws along with segregation and discrimination. If Congess, the President or the Supreme Court wanted to end slavery, why didn't they repeal the Fugitive Slave Law?
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You have presented some information and concepts which are not often considered. Bravo for that. However, one must be cautious in drawing inference or conclusion from that information except to do so by applying the standard of that time period. All acts are fixed in the time and conditions under which they were undertaken. It is folly to hold the men of the past and their actions to the tone of the law and society of the current day, It is also patently unfair to those men who are incapable of defending their actions except by the records we still have in support of their positions and actions.
The federal government did not intentionally support slavery. Its laws supported the property rights of the American citizens who held slaves as property, property which WAS NOT recognized by law as being endowed by the Creator with in alienable rights and still today is not expressly provided that recognition.
It is not appropriate or applicable to color the slaves as having God given rights for that was not the consideration of the time, and it still is not the consideration expressed by federal law. Law is not retroactive.
It seems Amendment XIV provided acceptable prosthetic rights which I do not hear many bitching about today, but that they do use freely.
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