Slaves And Black People example essay topic

During the colonial period of America, many colonists struggled with the laws imposed upon them by England. The struggle grew over the years until many Americans had developed a revolutionary attitude toward their mother country. This attitude not only led the colonists into the American Revolution which freed them from the rule of England, but also influenced the ways in which the various colonies chose to govern themselves. The experience of colonial rule caused the new Americans to denounce certain aspects of government which had been a part of their colonial society and, in fact, seemed somewhat radical at the time.

However, the most revolutionary act they seem to have accomplished was the war for independence itself. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, which served as a basis for many Bills of Rights in state constitutions, laid out basic rights of men as the foundation of their new government. The idea that "all men are by nature equally free and independent" is then qualified in the document itself by the phrase "when they enter into a state of society". The phrase regarding society is intended to exclude slaves from the "free and independent" status given to all other men. John Ross expanded on this theme at a New York state convention where he stated that blacks are "seldom, if ever, required to share in the common burthens or defence of the state" and are "incapable... of exercising that privilege with any sort of discretion, prudence, or independence". Colonel Samuel Young, speaking at the same convention where Ross stated his views, felt that blacks would "sell their votes to the highest bidder".

The views seem oddly the same, though blacks were no longer slaves in New York at that time. The Pennsylvania Gradual Abolition Act of 1980 started the abolition slavery by laying out the conditions under which slaves and people born into slavery would eventually be free. Basically, it limited the time a person could be held as a slave and granted other rights to "Negroes and Mulattoes". In particular, the Act stated that the crimes of Negroes and Mulattoes would be judged and punished the same as crimes of the "other inhabitants of this state", but did denote that a slave could not testify against a freeman. This limitation perpetuated the idea that slaves and black people were not on equal footing with white men. In today's world, the remnants of a time when blacks were viewed as inferior to whites can still be seen, yet it is difficult to imagine that the statements made in documents which were designed to declare the rights of people in America are so boldly prejudiced.

In fact, in Section 4 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, it is stated that no man or group of men is "entitled to exclusive... privileges from the community". In fact, all white men were given preferential treatment when compared with the civil treatment of black men. In retrospect, the founding fathers appeared more than a little hypocritical. They seemed to want new freedoms in their own lives away from mother England, but they clearly had no intention of extending those rights to "all" men. In addition to the failure to extend inherent rights to slaves, the founding fathers also failed to extend rights of any kind to women. In fact, women were considered to have become part of the husband, for legal purposes, after their marriage.

A woman had to have her husband's consent in order to bring any type of legal action, even if she herself were injured. The action had to be in the husband's name as well as the wife's, whether or not the husband actually had any type of involvement in the incidents that caused the action to be brought. Along the same lines, a woman could not be sued unless the husband was also named as a defendant. However, according to William Blackstone, there were some instances in which a woman was considered separately from her husband; "as inferior to him, and acting by his compulsion". Because of this consideration, deeds done by her were void or at least voidable. Even in some "felonies, and other inferior crimes" committed by a woman, she was excused.

Such exclusion did not extend to crimes of murder or treason. Nonetheless, the general idea was that women were inferior to men and would not be held accountable for their actions, but would also not be allowed to make their own decisions. Blackstone characterized the condition as that of being "incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs everything". Again, the treatment of women negated the basic idea of equality that the modern world has come to associate with the words of the founding fathers. Religion, as well, was a topic of great interest to the group of gentlemen who drafted the foundations of the government of the United States. In The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, Thomas Jefferson wrote that. ".. our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions... ". , but language in the document suggests that Jefferson's world of religion encompassed only Christianity.

He refers to "Almighty God", and "Lord", which are terms most known to refer to Christian beliefs. That the new government was comprised predominantly, if not exclusively, of Christian believers is evident in the final statement in section 16 which states that "it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance... ". Nonetheless, Jefferson went to great lengths to describe the various kinds of religious persecution that would not be tolerated and there was no direct reference to the idea that tolerance would be extended only to Christians. There were two principal themes in the statute. First, no man should be forced to worship with a certain group or in a certain way, nor should a man suffer because of his religious opinions.

Secondly, all men should be free to state their own opinions in matters of religion. Generally, these principles are still seen in today's world, at least in the theory of what Americans believe. Of the three main topics discussed in this set of readings, the founding fathers seemed to have come as close to being forthright in the writings on freedom of religion. While modern times have seen society gravitate more to the literal meaning of the words written in these early documents, the post-colonial government was far from that meaning. It could be said that they were hypocritical as to the rights of blacks and women and it could be that they actually were. It seems more likely, however, that they were merely a product of their own times.

There had been issues with England during the colonial period, but they were not particularly radical issues. The colonists were not up in arms with the mother country over the lack of voting rights for their wives or for their slaves. They were, however, concerned with religious freedom. The lack of concern over rights for women and blacks is a direct result of the society at the time of the Revolution and is without a doubt the reason that these issues were not addressed in the early development of the government of the United States. The fact that the drafters of the early government were directly affected by the need for freedom of religious beliefs may indicate, at least in part, why rights set out regarding that issue have stood the test of time.