With the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865, a ban on slavery became the law of the land. No surprise, then, that the Library of America’s sweeping new anthology of antislavery literature — a compilation of 216 works by 158 different authors — ends with the two-sentence addition to the Constitution that proscribed slavery in the United States once and for all.
Much more revealing than where it ends is where the anthology begins. “American Antislavery Writings” opens with the earliest known public statement of opposition to slavery in the colonies — a resolution adopted in 1688 by the Quakers of Germantown, Pa. “What thing in the world can be done worse towarts us then if men should robb or steal us away & sell us for slaves to strange Countries,” the document argues, denouncing slavery as cruel and hypocritical at a time when the American Revolution lay nearly nine decades in the future.
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" ...the document argues, denouncing slavery as cruel and hypocritical at a time when the American Revolution lay nearly nine decades in the future..."
Demonstrating the truism that history does not move forward in lock-step. That the understanding of individual human rights, and dignity, of an individual's obligations to the larger society, and of the society's legitimate role in the lives of an individual, continue to evolve, and that some truths, no matter how obvious today, took time to transform society. The process continues unabated, and as stalwart opponents of change fight rear guard actions, oblivious to the tides of history sweeping away the sand beneath their feet, we must all ask ourselves what truths we fail to see will our descendants hold "to be self-evident"?
The Constitution in its original draft contained a terrible contradiction -- a commitment to individual liberty and tolerance of slavery. It took the death of 600,000 Americans to eliminate that constitutional flaw. Today's constitutional problem is that many liberals believe that there is no limit on federal powers. They seem to believe that an ephemeral Congressional majority can disregard limits on federal power, for example by enacting Obamacare.
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Hmm, since we elected a black president it seems that no conservatives can join in any discussion without trying to demonize liberals.
That was a reply to OZ. For some reason the site won' t let me post a reply.
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