Christopher Rhoades Dÿkema
precepts at claremont.org wrote:
> The Claremont Institute--PRECEPTS | | July 17, 2001
> Visit <http://www.claremont.org> | | No. 288
>
> Claremont Institute Precepts: Condemning Slavery and America
>
> By Brian T. Kennedy
>
> The California Legislature condemned slavery in America
> last week, more than 135 years after it ended. The joint
> resolution "acknowledge[s] the fundamental injustice,
> cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United
> States and the 13 American colonies," and "apologize[s] to
> African-Americans on behalf of the people of the United
> States for the wrongs committed against their ancestors who
> suffered as slaves." The resolution - the first by a state
> legislature - also urges Congress to establish a national
> memorial, a museum, and a commission to study reparations.
> In an age of political correctness, most politicians would
> have difficulty voting against such a measure. Four state
> senators had the courage to do just that. Here is why.
>
> First, the obvious: No black person alive in America today
> was a slave. No American alive today owned slaves. Nothing
> we do today can repay those poor souls who suffered under
> slavery.
>
> Second, the idea of reparations is all but impossible.
> Slavery in America was never a simple matter of black and
> white: On the eve of the Civil War there were approximately
> 4,000 black slave owners, as well as American Indians who
> owned black slaves. Is anyone prepared to ask descendants
> of black slave owners to pay reparations to descendants of
> black slaves? Of course not. Instead, what all Americans of
> all colors ask is to be treated as equal citizens.
>
> Third, America was the first country to be founded on the
> idea of human equality, and, not coincidentally, the first
> to publicly recognize the injustice of slavery, which
> existed across the globe in 1776.
>
> In _Vindicating the Founders_, University of Dallas
> political scientist Thomas G. West cites numerous occasions
> of the Founders fighting against slavery, both in speech
> and practice. In speech, many Americans echoed the
> sentiments of John Adams, who explained: "Every measure of
> prudence, therefore, ought to be assumed for the eventual
> total extirpation of slavery from the United States.... I
> have, through my whole life, held the practice of slavery
> in...abhorrence." And George Washington: "There is not a
> man living who wishes more sincerely that I do, to see a
> plan adopted for the abolition of it."
>
> According to James Madison, the problem of slavery was the
> most divisive at the Constitutional Convention. Even though
> slavery violated the principles of human freedom and
> equality, they had no other reasonable alternative but to
> compromise. Demanding an immediate end to slavery would
> certainly have caused the slave states to reject union
> altogether, and establish a separate country more committed
> to continuing the institution of slavery.
>
> West also points out that by enacting policies such as the
> Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the American Founders sought
> to put slavery on the road to "ultimate extinction". By
> prohibiting slavery from spreading to the federal
> territories, they had faith that the growth of free labor
> and the promise of liberty would eventually wipe out
> slavery as an institution.
>
> Fourth, so powerful was this commitment to the principles
> of human equality and constitutional government that
> Lincoln was willing to fight a Civil War in order to
> prevent the South from destroying the Constitution, and
> spreading slavery to those new lands. Some 359,000 Union
> soldiers gave their last and fullest measure of devotion so
> that the principle of human equality - what Lincoln
> called "the father of all moral principle in us" - would
> remain the central idea of the American republic.
>
> As Lincoln explained at Gettysburg, the blood of those who
> died in that struggle stands as the highest testament to
> the wrongness of slavery. If one wants to memorialize the
> struggle over slavery, the Lincoln Memorial along with
> Arlington National Cemetery are the best examples of how
> Americans viewed the evils of slavery, and the lengths they
> were willing to go to end it.
>
> The politics and rhetoric from the American Founding
> through the Civil War can rightly be described as the
> greatest anti-slavery crusade in human history. This used
> to be obvious to every child in grade school. Today this
> is not so. Civic education in America is at an all time
> low, and the recent actions of the California Legislature
> is but one example of this decline.
>
> Legislative resolutions are meant to instruct the citizens
> of California about matters of great import. The purpose of
> this resolution is to divide, to pit race against race, and
> to inspire contempt for the political principles and
> institutions that have led to the freedoms we have today.
> Some legislators were absent or abstained from voting for
> the resolution. The record does not say which. Senators
> Dick Ackerman, Tom McClintock, Bill Morrow, and Rico Oller
> on the other hand were willing to be counted on the side of
> the Constitution and the principles of the Declaration of
> Independence. For this they deserve our praise and our
> thanks.
>
> Brian T. Kennedy is Vice President of the Claremont
> Institute and Director of their Golden State Center in
> Sacramento.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Copyright (c) 2001 The Claremont Institute
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