CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• PROPOSITION

– AMERICAN FOUNDATION CORRUPTED BY BASE COMPROMISE W/ SLAVERY

– SLAVE-OWNING MEMBERS OF CONSTSTUTIONAL CONVENTION HYPOCRITES

– THE CONSTITUTION A “REFUGE OF LIES”

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• SLAVERY IN GLOBAL CONTEXT

– UNVIVERSALLY PRACTICED IN ANCIENT WORLD/ MODERN ERA

• EUROPE

• MIDDLE ESAT

• AFRICA FAR EAST

– AMERICAN PRACTICE DEVELOPED IN LINE WITH UNIVERSAL PRACTICES

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• FREEDOM IN GLOBAL CONTEXT

– SLAVERY NOT PECULIARLY AMERICAN

– SLAVERY NOT PECULIAR TO WHITES

– SLAVERY EXISTED UNIVERSALLY BECAUSE THE CONCEPT OF FREEDOM DID NOT EXIST IN MOST PARTS OF THE WORLD

– “THERE WAS NO WORD FOR ‘FREEDOM’ IN MOST NON-WESTERN LANGUAGES BEFORE CONTACT WITH WESTERN PEOPLES.” ORLANDO PATTERSON

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• MOST OF THE POPULATION OF THE WORLD, WHITE OR OTHERWISE LIVED IN SOME STATE OF “UNFREEDOM”

– SLAVERY DEVELOPED IN SOCIAL SYSTEM RADICALLY DIFFERENT

• SERVANTS, LABORORS=BASE PEOPLE

• WHITE INDENTURED SERVANTS

– BOUGHT

– SOLD

– USED AS GAMBLING STAKES

– OFTEN DIFFICULT FOR AMERICANS OF THE TIME TO PERCIEVE THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF BLACK SLAVERY

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• UNTIL 18^TH CENTURY LITTLE MORAL QUALMS W/SLAVERY

• NO CONTRADICTION OF IMPORTANT SOCIALVALUE

• ARABIAN SLAVE TRADE COSMOPOLITAN

• NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES PRACTICED SLAVERY

– POTLACH CEREMONIES

• Killing slaves to prove wealth

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• ANTITHESIS OF “FREE”=UNFREE

• GREATEST PORTION OF ALL PEOPLE LIVED IN SOME DEGREE OF “UNFREEDOM”

– SERVITUDE

– PARTIAL FREEDOM

– SERFDOM

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• AFRICA

– GHANA

– MALI

– SONGHAY

• RELIED ON SLAVE LABOR

– MANSA MUSA OF MALI PURCHASE TURKISH SLAVES

– SHIP-WRECKED EUROPEANS WERE ENSLAVED

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• AFRICA

– ASHANTI ENSLAVED ALL FOREIGNERS

– AFRICAN SLAVERY

• WIDESPREAD

• UNCONTROVERSIAL

• IN AMERICA SLAVERY CAME FROM OUTSIDE

• IN AFRICA IT WAS INDIGENOUS

• IN MOST OF EUROPE LAND=WEALTH

• IN MUCH OF AFRICA SLAVES=WEALTH*

• *”…SLAVES WERE THE ONLY FORM OF PRIVATE, REVENUE PRODUCING PROPERTY RECOGNIZED IN AFRICAN LAW.” JOHN THORNTON

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• AFRICA

– SLAVE TRADE FLOURISHED BEFORE EUROPEAN CONTACT

– MOST SLAVES PROCURED BY EUROPEANS BOUGHT AT MARKET

– INCOME FROM SLAVE TRADE MADE MANY AFRICAN LEADERS WEALTHY

– ZORA NEALE HURSTON

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• AMERICA

– RACISM?

– PROFIT?

– SOMETHING ELSE?

• *RACISM=IDEOLOGICAL RATIONALIZATION FOR BLACK SLAVERY (STEALING THE LABOR OF A RACE)? *SIMPLIFICATION OF MARXIST EXPLANATION

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• RACISM

– SOUTH VS NORTH AMERICA

• SOUTH AMERICA

– MORE NUMEROUS

– HARSHER

– HIGHER MORTALITY RATE

– ABSENTEE OWNERS

– LAWS MORE BENIGN

» FAMILIES

» MARRIAGE

» MANUMISSION

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• NORTH AMERICA (USA)

– HARSH

– RESIDENT OWNERS

– OWNERS HAD FULL DISCRETION

• MARRIAGE

• FAMILIES

• MANUMISSION

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• MISCEGENATION

– SOUTH AMERICA

• LEGAL

• SEMI-RESPECTABLE

• CREATES A FREE “COLORED CLASS”

– USA

• ILLEGAL

• ANY AFRICAN BLOOD=BLACK=SLAVE

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• WHY THE DIFFERENCE?

– CATHOLIC CHURCH

– SOCIAL

– TRADITIONAL

– ECONOMIC

– POLITICAL?

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• SOUTH AMERICA

– PORTUGUESE

– SPANISH

• RIDGID, HIERARCHICAL MONARCHIES/SOCIAL CLASSES

• FREEDOM (SELF GOVERNMENT/INDIVIDUAL SELF-DETERMINATION) NONEXISTANT

• RESULT/NO NEED FOR JUSTIFICATION

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• USA

– BY 1787 A FREE SOCIETY

– LIBERAL/DEMOCRATIC CREED

– “ALL MEN CREATED EQUAL”

– HOW TO RESOLVE CONTRADICTION

• BLACKS ARE NOT MEN

• PROPERTY

– RACISM BECAME NOT AN ECONOMIC, BUT A MORAL JUSTIFICATION

– DEFENDING SLAVERY ON MORAL GROUNDS BECAME NECESSARY BECAUSE OTHERS OBJECTED

CONSTITUTION AND SLAVERY

• SLAVERY

– PRACTICED EVERYWHERE

– BEFORE HISTORY

– ONLY ONE SOCIETY FOUGHT A WAR TO STOP IT

• USA