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Originally Posted by Willravel
The 13th was ratified in 1865. Before then? Yeah, it would have been legal for me to own a black guy. So from 1787 to 1865, those 98 or so years, my right to own slaves would have been Constitutionally kosher (so long as he or she was black). Despite the clear declaration of conscience, in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are created equal, I could have had some poor soul picking fruit in my back yard for nothing.
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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
the perfect example of how rights became subject to 'reasonable regulation'. A term that is now subject to interpretation by the very entity designed to protect rights and is often twisted and manipulated in order to achieve a public policy objective. Rights went from unalienable to subjective because people want to control other people.
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Read your response in the context of slavery. Have you seen the Constitution? Section 2 of Article I states that apart from free persons "all other persons," meaning slaves, are each to be counted as three-fifths of a white person for the purpose of apportioning congressional representatives on the basis of population. Section 9 of Article I states that the importation of "such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit," meaning slaves, would be permitted until 1808. And Section 2 of Article IV directs that persons "held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another," meaning fugitive slaves, were to be returned to their owners.
This was the work of the original framers and owning a slave was Constitutionally protected. It was a right. Of course from the Southern perspective (to paraphrase you) rights went from unalienable to subjective because people in the North want to control people in the South.
So either you must admit that you are okay with the idea that the framers made mistakes and were fallible (and thus the Constitution isn't always perfect), or you have to admit that you support slavery.
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Originally Posted by dksuddeth
so you destroy the constitution to create your better world.
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"Destroy the Constitution"? Is it in your capacity not to exaggerate or make appeals to emotion?