Slavery has left its literal & metaphorical scars on America since its birth. But ours is the first nation ever conceived in liberty & dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
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Slavery has been a feature of virtually every human society since the species evolved. Perhaps older than that. It is among the oldest human institutions. By comparison w slavery, literacy, monogamy, & monotheism are mere passing fads.
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But America began with a declaration that all men are created equal—which was understood the moment it was uttered as rendering slavery anathema.
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Understanding slavery’s legacy is crucial-But saying it’s the “foundation” of America is factually false & a slur on the memories of countless Americans of all races who’ve given their lives, fortunes & sacred honor to a nation they rightly believed is founded on freedom for all.
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My favorite (if that’s the word) example of the scar of slavery: the 36 30 Line. Still a literal scar on the map of the US. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_36 …°30′_northpic.twitter.com/0pL3jjNpTU
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Those who believe this nation is founded in slavery believe Dred Scott was correctly decided. Me? I side with Lincoln.https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/speech-on-the-dred-scott-decision/ …
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“Chief Justice Taney, in his opinion in the Dred Scott case, admits that the language of the Declaration is broad enough to include the whole human family, but he and Judge Douglas argue that the authors of that instrument did not intend to include negroes, by the fact that they
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did not at once, actually place them on an equality with the whites. Now this grave argument comes to just nothing at all, by the other fact, that they did not at once, or ever afterwards, actually place all white people on an equality with one or another. And this is the staple
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argument of both the Chief Justice and the Senator, for doing this obvious violence to the plain unmistakable language of the Declaration. I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal in all respects.
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They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness, in what respects they did consider all men created equal-equal in ‘certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and
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the pursuit of happiness.’ This they said, and this meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet, that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact they had no power to confer such a boon. They
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meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, & even
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though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere. The assertion that “all men are created equal” was of no practical use in
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effecting our separation from Great Britain; and it was placed in the Declaration, nor for that, but for future use. Its authors meant it to be, thank God, it is now proving itself, a stumbling block to those who in after times might seek to turn a free people back into the
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hateful paths of despotism. They knew the proneness of prosperity to breed tyrants, and they meant when such should re-appear in this fair land and commence their vocation they should find left for them at least one hard nut to crack. I have now briefly expressed my view of the
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meaning and objects of that part of the Declaration of Independence which declares that ‘all men are created equal.’”
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Folks, if this thread interests you, you might enjoy my article “How libertarians should think about the Civil War” https://reasonpapers.com/pdf/28/rp_28_6.pdf … or my book on Frederick Douglass:https://www.amazon.com/Frederick-Douglass-Self-Made-Timothy-Sandefur/dp/1944424857 …
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