Rip Haywire by Dan Thompson for July 04, 2016
July 03, 2016
July 05, 2016
Transcript:
Rip Haywire: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. R.J: And S'mores. TNT: I think that's part of the happiness.
The situation was bad, but not quite that bad:1. There were no restrictions on white landless people. That’s simply false. (They only prohibited certain kinds of federal taxation, leaving it to the states. Remember, they were adamant about having a very small federal gov’t.)2. The constitution itself applied to everybody. It never mentioned race, nor gender.3. Many races were slaves, even whites. (And some blacks were free and even slave owners!)4. Native Americans were independent. They were not taxed and were not citizens. That’s basically true today: their lands are not subject to US law.
(The constitution was an admitted compromise, but even when signed it limited protection of the slave trade to a 20 year timeframe. They knew the end was coming, and some were quite passionate about it.)