(( HIS-STORY )) LESSON OF THE DAY KEEP CALM; DO YOUR RESEARCH Delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 hotly debated the issue of slavery. George Mason of Virginia argued eloquently against slavery, warning his fellow delegates: Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, providence punishes national sins by national calamities. Southern delegates, on the other hand, argued strenuously that the new government should not be allowed to interfere with the institution of slavery. Delegate John Rutledge of South Carolina, for example, told delegates that religion and humanity have nothing to do with the questions of whether the Constitution should protect slavery--it was simply a question of property rights. IF THE CONSTITUTION STATED THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL AND FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR ALL, THEN WHY WERE THERE SLAVES? The Constitution that the delegates proposed included several provisions that explicit recognized and protected slavery. Without these provisions, southern delegates would not support the new Constitution--and without the southern states on board, the Constitution had no chance of being ratified. Provisions allowed southern states to count slaves as 3/5 persons for purposes of apportionment in Congress (even though the slaves could not, of course, vote), expressly denied to Congress the power to prohibit importation of new slaves until 1808, and prevented free states from enacting laws protecting fugitive slaves.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 12:41:52 +0000
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