The invention of Constitution is one the most important events in the history of the USA. Our nation has struggled over decades in order to create the law which would make everybody equal and would help us to create the society of justice and wisdom. The constitutional Convention is considered to be the first try to create the main law of our country.
The Constitutional Convention took part in Philadelphia in May 1787. Delegations from all the 13 colonies were supposed to meet. The convention began on May 25 when the delegates of seven states arrived (Collier, 34).
Berkin claims that all the delegates were “men who recognized the idea of compromise, who knew concessions had to be made for the greater good” (Berkin, 86).
He writes that every delegate knew that “in a tug-of-war between the states and the central government, any power granted to one must of necessity, diminish the autonomy of the other.” (Berkin, 86).
But what is special about the delegates is that they were very rich people. May be that was the reason why in the Convention poor white mates were not mentioned. Women and Native Americans were not addressed too. What is more, most of the delegates had slaves. So in such light their try to abolish slavery looks not very sincere.
Berkin describes the framers of the constitution as men of their time. The need to prohibit slavery and to give women rights equal with men wasn’t their main concern.
What is interesting is that the abolition of slavery wasn’t the main topic of the agenda. Many delegates who came from the northern states insisted that any notion of slavery had to be eliminated. But this wasn’t the main theme of the convention. The main concern was to unify all the states under one system of government. It was clear that slave trading cannot exist in the country where individual freedoms are proclaimed. But it was also obvious that if the enslavement of Africans in southern states were banned by the new government, the United States would seize to exist. So as for new-born Independence, it did not concern the interests of black people.
After long debate the Slave Trade Clause was included into Section 9 (Article I): “The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight” (Oates, 93). It is interesting that the word “slaves” is not used directly, and the slaves are addressed as “Persons”.
Nevertheless a law that prohibited the importation of slaves from Africa was passed in March 1807. Even after that there was the continuous struggle in order to keep the institution of slavery untouched.
For a long time the marriages with members of former slave families were still illegal. As for black slave women they were also sexually harassed by white Americans. Most of the African Americans could not use their right to provide education for their children. The slave communities which were forcefully immigrated to South did not achieve adequate social status. So they weren’t independent enough even to move around their independent country.
This serves a good example to illustrate Thomas Jefferson’s words:” A government big enough to supply you with everything you need is a government big enough to take away everything that you have…. The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases” (Oates, 117).
Like almost everybody in America in that time, Thomas Jefferson could not see the future of America as based on a multiracial society. All his ideas about ending slavery included “colonization”, which meant resettlement of the black people somewhere outside the country. Though nowadays the idea of creating of a colony of former slaves does not seem very reasonable, it was then the main idea of anti-slavery reformers. As for those who advocated a society with social and political equality for everybody they were a minority.
As Gordon S. Wood says about Washington, “tolerance and liberality were his watchwords. Politeness and compassion toward his fellow man were his manners. Behaving in this way was what constituted being civilized” (Oates, 2002, 204). But still in “civilized” America of that time slaves, women and Native Americans were oppressed. In order to come to the agreement these groups were left out.
As for American Indians, most of them were exterminated during European colonization. Many tribes were forces to move to distant reservations. Their rights were not mentioned in the constitutional Convention, there was no chance for them to have the rights white Americans had.
What was good about this Constitutional Convention is that the delegates realized their lack of clairvoyance. The framers of the constitution decided to invent in the constitution the ability to change. The “independence” that was supposed to guarantee equal rights for everybody did not work for poor people, women and especially Native Americans and slaves.
Works Cited
Berkin C. et al. Making America: A History of the United States. United States: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.
Collier, C. Decision in Philadelphia. United States: Ballantine Books, 1987.
Oates, S. Portrait of America. United States: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.