History

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In the Friday, July 3, 2015 edition of the Tacoma Weekly, Section A, was an editorial viewpoint entitled, “Is this the form of government that the Founding Fathers envisioned”? After taking several political science classes in college, and one especially that was an in depth study of the Constitution, I think that I can answer the question in an academically competent manner. The system of governance that we experience in America today is radically different than the one envisioned by Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and other Continental delegates. The draft of the Declaration of Independence echo with the unforgettable, awe-inspiring, and unimpeachable words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. . . “There is a lot in that one line so let me try to unpack it. Did “ALL MEN” include indigenous First Nations men or those men brought from Africa to the distant shores of America with iron chains shackled around their necks, wrists, and ankles?

In reading the Constitution it seems that African slaves, or those subjected to servitude was of special concern to these great men, and for proof look at the following: Article 1, Section 2b (“Three-fifths Clause”); Article 1, Section 9a (“1808 Clause”) along with Article 5b; and Article 4, Section 2b (“Fugitive Slave Clause). The Thirteenth Amendment which freed the slaves was perhaps the most insidious, twisted, perverse and tricky piece of legislation ever passed into law. Most readers do not pay attention to the part that says, “. . . except for [any] crime where the party shall have been duly convicted.” I have no doubt that ex-slaveholders and other White citizens found creative ways to exploit the legal weakness of this clause, and re-enslaved those who have formerly been heretofore freed. It must also be noted that many, if not most of the signees of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were slaveholders.

The last part of the Op-Ed pens exactly the words from the Declaration of Independence [as the entire article contains], but I want to focus on the words: “A new nation that would be of the People, by the People, and for the People. . .” but just who are these people under consideration that the Framers had in mind, because it wasn’t ‘All’ people? These gentlemen did not even include [White] women in their deliberations, and in fact they were only granted the right to vote [“women’s suffrage”] in 1920; ironically fifty years after slaves were given the right to vote after passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870. So, to reiterate, the Founding fathers DID NOT conceive of an America where Barack Obama would be elected president of the United States.


Robert Randle
776 Commerce St Apt B11
Tacoma, WA 98402
July 7, 2015
[email protected]

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