Slavery was a major issue back in the 1800s. Many slave owners didn’t want to come to the terms that slavery was going to be abolished and hence fought in the courts for what they thought will be a sustainable endeavor even after the slaves had been freed. For instance in the case of Dred Scott, the court argued that slaves were not legal citizens and hence refused to grant him freedom which he had sued. Political tensions and animosity were later fueled by this decision and it eventually led to the cold war. Any person who was born in the United States should enjoy all the privileges that the great country has to offer irrespective of their origin, color, ethnicity, and gender. The Constitution of the United States, therefore, provides freedom of such people to participate in any political activity in the country without fear or prejudice. However, some quarters felt that this should not be the case and thought that slavery should continue like in the case of Dred Scott whose freedom was annulled by the U. S Supreme Court.
In this case, the court considered that neither the people who were imported into the United States as slaves nor their descendants irrespective of the fact they had become free or not were to be acknowledged as part of the citizens. They were regarded as being inferior and non-citizens who were not suitable to associate with the white race both socially and politically. The slaves were traded like objects and merchandise that were meant to fetch profits to their masters and owners. There were, at least, two clauses of the Constitution that stated that the Negro race was deemed as a separate class of citizens and, therefore, were not to be regarded or viewed as a portion of citizens of the government that was formed at that time. One of the clauses allowed for the importation of slaves up to the year 1808 which explicitly stated that it was to be people of that particular race who were referred to as slaves.
Another clause said that the States were to maintain the right of owning the slaves by a master as property, and the States had a right to deliver back the slave to the master in case they escaped and were found within their territories. The legislation of the States consequently illustrate, in a way not to be misguided, the lesser and subject circumstance of that race at the time the Constitution was implemented and long afterward all over the thirteen States by which that instrument was framed. Even though President Jefferson exclaimed that all men were created equal, the vice of slavery continued to thrive and he being a slave owner constrained the realization of this ideology. Even after the Revolution, when many of his contemporaries were freeing their slaves, Jefferson did not free his more than 175 slaves (Finkelman 193).
Therefore, the Supreme Court of the United States is not the conclusive dispenser of judgment, and it cannot transform the fundamental nature of things. All men are equal and should enjoy all the privileges presented by their government without any favor or prejudice based on skin color or race. Even though there lack fair justice here on earth against man, there will be sufficiently fair judgment and justice in heaven. Even though the colored people be discriminated and tormented, they will break free of the chains of slavery they have been subjected to from time to time. The American people should abolish the vice that is now more mental than being practiced in the open every day.
Work cited
Finkelman, Paul. Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson. London: Routledge, 2014. Print.
