In the last couple of weeks both the Constitution and the Founding Fathers have come under attack. It hasn’t been a subtle attack either. It has been right out in the open. Here are a couple of examples:
Fareed Zakaria, CNN host and self described confidant of President Obama, recently stated that the Constitution was old and dusty and needed to be updated. How should we update it? Just like Iceland and take suggestions from Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Time Magazines July 4th issue asked on the cover, is the Constitution still relevant?
During ABCs July 4th weekend coverage, John Donavan made the below statement in a piece on the Constitution and the Founding Fathers.
“The reality is that the framers – posed in paintings as though frozen on an American Olympus – they were not gods, they were guys – guys who didn’t give women the vote and let slavery stand for the time being and who, by the way, were trying to create at the time a stronger central government, of course not too strong, leaving to us a Constitution that we could fix, as needed, – sorry, make that amend – which we’ve now done 27 times.”
The United States Constitution is the longest standing governing document in the history of mankind. That has to account for quite a bit. The founders examined every republic and every governing document written in history up to that point. They also analyzed all the governing documents currently in place throughout the world at that time. None of those documents came close to measuring up to what they wanted to accomplish. The Founders truly wanted a system where man could truly rule himself and take charge of his own life. The Declaration of Independence wasn’t just a rejection of British rule; it was a rejection of all governments that rule over their people.
While most countries average a revolution or replacement of their governing documents every 40 years, we have been blessed to have a longstanding peaceful society for over 200 years. It is an example of what can happen when man’s freedom of choice is truly unleashed. Look at all the advancements that have been made since the Constitution was ratified and the improved in the living conditions of man.
The Constitution is and will always be relevant. The Founders created a document that would survive. Yes, the Constitution does allow for an amendment process. The Founders knew that they couldn’t cover every possible thing in the Constitution and also knew that there needed to be a window to correct some of the things that started out in the Constitution that they weren’t able to initially hammer out or mutually agree on. They beauty of the amendment process is that it allows the scars to remain. You must make another amendment to repeal a previous one. This allows you to see the experimentation in this Great Experiment.
In regards to slavery, several of the founders were abolitionist. They put things in place to weaken slavery so it could one day be eliminated. This was genius on their part as slavery was still a major piece of the southern states economies and would take time to bring down without imploding those economies. Many people feel this should have been outlawed from the get go. The founders realized that without all of the colonies coming together the nation would not work. It would leave to much opportunity for jealousies to create multiple conflicts between the states. They needed to ensure a union of all 13 of the states.
Article 1 of the Constitution contains the provisions that weakened slavery.
Section 9 allowed slaves to be imported only until 1808. After that they could not be imported. Up until that time, a tax of $10 per individual was charged. $10 was a hefty price at that time and worked to dissuade people from importing new slaves.
Section 2 contains the 3/5ths clause which some people point out as a sign of prejudice by the founders. This clause had nothing to do with the value of an individual. It had to do with representation in the House of Representatives. The abolitionist Founders knew that if the southern states held a huge majority in the House that slavery could never be ended. By setting the representatives of total slave population as 3/5 of the total it lowered the representation of the south in the House to a point that the non-slave states could keep a majority in the House and work to end slavery.
Frederick Douglas originally spoke out against the 3/5 clause saying, “I am not 3/5 of a man.” He later retracted that statement declaring that when he finally read the Constitution he realized the genius of the founders in ensuring that the non-slave states held a majority in the House.
In regards to women having the vote, women did have the right to vote in America even before the revolution. The requirement to qualify for voting was that you had to be a property owner. There were some women who inherited property from their husbands and did vote in elections.