A historian once wrote that the rise of liberty and equality in America was accompanied by slavery. There is truth in that statement to great effect. The rise of America in general was accompanied by slavery and the settlers learned early on that slavery would be an effective way to build a country and create free labor. There was a definite accompaniment of slavery with the rising of liberty and equality in America.
In 1787, in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention, the structure of government wasn’t the only thing being discussed. As James Madison said, “the institution of slavery and its implications,” were also hotly debated. Foner writes about how Madison loathed slavery and told the convention that the “distinction of color” had become the basis for “the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man.” Later, though, assured the Virginia ratifying convention that the Constitution offered slavery “better security than any that now exists.” During the convention of the Constitution, slavery was kept in mind. In fact, the word slavery and slaves did not appear in the Constitution. An acknowledgement to the sensibilities of the delegates, who according to Foner, feared they would “contaminate the glorious fabric of American history.” It becomes clear that even though the delegates may have been aware of their impact on history, slavery was constantly on mind.
Certain laws were developed in light of the Constitution and made for equal representation between lesser-populated states with more slaves and the more white-populated states in the north. There were two main laws, one being the Fugitive Slave Law and the Three Fifths Clause. The former, the Fugitive Slave Law was set so that a state or federal judge ...
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...at blacks are not on the same level as whites by saying, “No body wishes more than I do, to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other colors of men.” The rise of equality and liberty is continually set side by side with slavery. It is not until the late twentieth century that we see truly free black men.
Free black men don’t exist before the mid-twentieth century. Partially free men, barely exist. The rise of liberty and equality are absolutely accompanied by slavery. Slavery is the constant companion to liberty and equality throughout the ages.
Works Cited
Foner, Eric. 2009. Give me Liberty!
New York. W.W. Norton & Company.
Hohn, Peter. Class Notes. History 201. Portland Community College
Portland. 23 Jan. 2010, 24 Feb. 2010.
Thomas Jefferson Letter to Benjamin Banneker
Aug. 30 1791
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The American Revolution was a “light at the end of the tunnel” for slaves, or at least some. African Americans played a huge part in the war for both sides. Lord Dunmore, a governor of Virginia, promised freedom to any slave that enlisted into the British army. Colonists’ previously denied enlistment to African American’s because of the response of the South, but hesitantly changed their minds in fear of slaves rebelling against them. The north had become to despise slavery and wanted it gone. On the contrary, the booming cash crops of the south were making huge profits for landowners, making slavery widely popular. After the war, slaves began to petition the government for their freedom using the ideas of the Declaration of Independence,” including the idea of natural rights and the notion that government rested on the consent of the governed.” (Keene 122). The north began to fr...
The United States rests upon a foundation of freedom, where its citizens can enjoy many civil liberties as the result of decades of colonial struggles. However, African Americans did not achieve freedom concurrently with whites, revealing a contradiction within the “nation of liberty”. It has been stated that "For whites, freedom, no matter how defined, was a given, a birthright to be defended. For African Americans, it was an open-ended process, a transformation of every aspect of their lives and of the society and culture that had sustained slavery in the first place." African Americans gained freedom through the changing economic nature of slavery and historical events like the Haitian Revolution policies, whereas whites received freedom
Knowles, H. J. (2007). The Constitution and Slavery: A Special Relationship. Slavery & Abolition, 28(3), 309-328. doi:10.1080/01440390701685514