Defending the U.S. Constitution: Debunking Claims of Bias and Upholding Individual Rights
A persistent myth surrounds the U.S. Constitution: the belief that it is a racist or sexist document written exclusively by rich white men for the benefit of rich white men. In this article, we will debunk this misconception and argue that the Constitution itself is not inherently biased. Instead, it was the application of prejudices and biases by the states and more specifically the individuals who rose to power that denied rights to certain groups. We will explore the Great American Experiment, original constitutional framing, and the necessity of amendments to rectify historical injustices and uphold the Constitution's core principles of equality and individual liberty.
The Great American Experiment
The Great American Experiment, as embodied in the US Constitution, clearly aims to establish a system where people are free to govern themselves and to protect the rights of every individual. This is evidenced by
The Constitution's cautious approach to federal power and its restrictions on government action (the principle of negative powers as discussed in the article prior to this one),
Its clear protection of individual liberties via the Bill of Rights,
Its commitment to the principles of the Declaration of Independence which declared that all men are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, emphasizing the people's right to self-governance.
Together, these elements demonstrate the founders' intent to create a government that derives its authority from the consent of the governed, allowing for self-governance and the protection of individual freedoms. This is firmly established by the clear language of the 10th Amendment, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
This then is the Great American Experiment: can the American people govern themselves, preserve their rights and freedoms and keep the power of government in check and balance?
The American Form of Government
To prove that the Constitution is not a racist or sexist document as some claim, it is important to understand the type of government it sought to create in order to establish the Great American Experiment. There are 3 basic theories of government that need to be explained: Democracy, Republicanism and Constitutionalism.
Democracy's Key Principle: In a democracy, the ultimate authority rests with the people. It is a system of government where citizens have the power to make collective decisions, typically through voting
Representation: Democracy can take various forms, such as direct democracy (where citizens directly vote on laws and policies) or representative democracy (where citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf).
Majority Rule: A fundamental concept in democracies is the principle of majority rule, where decisions are made based on what the majority of voters support.
Protection of Minority Rights: This is the Achilles heel of most democracies. Some democracies may include mechanisms to protect the rights and interests of minority groups, ensuring that the majority does not oppress them, but it is not a requirement.
Republicanism's Key Principle: Republicanism is a system of government where the country is considered a "public matter" (res publica) rather than the private property of rulers such as monarchies. It emphasizes the idea that power should be exercised solely for the benefit of the public or the common good.
Representation and Elected Officials: In a republic, elected officials are responsible for representing the interests of the people. It may encompass both democratic and non-democratic systems.
Rule of Law: Republicanism often places a strong emphasis on the rule of law, where laws and principles constrain the actions of rulers and guarantee individual rights.
Checks and Balances: Republics may include systems of checks and balances to prevent the concentration of power in one branch or institution.
Constitutionalism' Key Principle: Constitutionalism is the belief in the importance of having a constitution—a fundamental document that establishes the framework for government and outlines the rights and responsibilities of citizens and rulers.
Limited Government: Constitutionalism emphasizes the idea of a limited government, where rulers are bound by the constitution and the rule of law. It restricts the arbitrary exercise of power.
Protection of Individual Rights: Constitutions often include provisions to protect individual rights and freedoms from infringement by the government.
Judicial Review: In many constitutional systems, there is a role for an independent judiciary to interpret the constitution and ensure that government actions align with it.
The framers of the Constitution sought to have a balance of the best possible attributes of government by combining Republicanism and Constitutionalism into a Constitutional Republic. This was the ideal combination for the Great American Experiment.
The Original Constitutional Framing
The U.S. Constitution, crafted in 1787 and ratified in 1788, established the framework for American governance as a Constitutional Republic. Contrary to the modern myth, it does not limit any citizen's rights based on race or gender. All citizens are considered equal under its terms. This concept of "all citizens are equal before the law" is a fundamental principle of the Constitution.
State Autonomy: The Constitution allows states significant autonomy, including the determination of voting qualifications and civil rights. However, it does not dictate any discriminatory practices.
The Absence of Bias: Importantly, the Constitution itself does not contain any provisions that favored or excluded any racial or gender group. It provides a structure for governance but does not deny rights based on group identity.
Unbiased Original Intent: The framers did not exclude any specific groups in its enumeration of inherent individual rights, but left room for future generations to address any abuses of individual rights by the state and federal authorities through its systems of checks and balances, judicial review and amendments.
States Power versus Citizen Rights
Since the original Constitution left all authority not explicitly granted to it in the hands of the member countries (states) or the people (10th Amendment), this allowed for broad latitude by the states, which led to disparities in application. It was the application of biases and prejudices by some states and individuals that denied rights to certain groups, not the Constitution itself. This is a critical distinction and a necessary one. If the American people were to govern themselves, allowance had to be made for them to learn and grow even at the risk of making mistakes.
Application of the Constitution: The document's limited nature allowed states a great deal of power in application. The Constitution is not inherently biased in any way, but the way it was applied by people varied.
State-Level Discrimination: Some states enacted discriminatory practices. However, these practices were not dictated by the Constitution.
Legal Challenges: Challenges to these state level discriminatory practices often rest on the argument that they contradict the Constitution's principles which are granted equally to every citizen.
The Three-Fifths Compromise
Contrary to modern interpretation, the "three-fifths clause" does not declare that a black person is only worth 60 percent of a white person. It states that for purposes of direct taxes and for determining the number of representatives for each state in the House, the federal government would count only three-fifths of the slaves instead of all of them, as the Southern states (who wanted to gain more seats and thus power), had insisted. All free blacks both in the North and the South (some 60,000 at the time) were counted on par with whites. Let's break this down further.
This specific provision in the United States Constitution, specifically in Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3, played a crucial role in ensuring that slaveholding states would join the union while simultaneously limiting their power to control the federal government's House of Representatives as well as the Electoral College through simply adding more slaves to their state population.
The actual text reads: "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons."
Encouragement for Participation: Slaveholding states, particularly in the South, had significant economic and political interests tied to slavery. By allowing these states to count three-fifths of their enslaved population for representation, the compromise incentivized their participation in the new nation.
Balancing Regional Interests: The United States was a diverse country with substantial regional differences, especially between the agrarian South and the more industrialized North. The compromise recognized these regional disparities and aimed to balance the interests of both sides.
Limiting Southern Influence: By counting only three-fifths of the enslaved population for representation, the compromise limited the political power of slaveholding states in both the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. This served as a severe check on their ability to control the federal government.
Gradual Progress towards Abolition: The compromise's limitation on Southern political influence indirectly contributed to the eventual push for the abolition of slavery. As the North grew in population and political power, it became more feasible to pass anti-slavery legislation, ultimately leading to the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment.
Preservation of Union: Most importantly, the Three-Fifths Compromise helped preserve the fragile union of states. It allowed the new nation to form and gave it time to evolve politically, economically, and morally, ultimately leading to the abolition of slavery and the end of the Civil War.
While the Three-Fifths Compromise is seen by some as a morally problematic compromise, it actually served as a practical means to bring slaveholding states into the union while simultaneously limiting the political power of these states, setting the stage for the eventual abolition of slavery and the transformation of the nation.
Necessity of Amendments
Amendments to the Constitution, such as the 13th mentioned above and the 15th and 19th Amendments, were necessary to rectify historical injustices caused by certain states and the people who supported them. These amendments did not need to correct the Constitution, but instead were deemed necessary to correct existing biases and ensure universal application of the Constitution's core principles to all citizens as originally intended.
The 15th Amendment: African American Suffrage: Ratified in 1870, this amendment confirmed that as American citizens and equal before the law, African American men had the right to vote. It aimed to rectify the denial of rights to citizens who already possessed them.
The 19th Amendment: Women's Suffrage: Ratified in 1920, this amendment confirmed that as citizens, women also had the right to vote. Advocates correctly argued that women already possessed this right under the Constitution, but were unjustly denied due to societal prejudices.
These amendments clarified already existing constitutional protections, reinforcing the idea that rights could not be denied based on sex or race because the Constitution itself made no such distinctions. They ensured that the Constitution's principles of equality and individual liberty applied universally.
The amendments prevented the denial of rights to citizens based on societal prejudices. They were crucial in rectifying historical injustices at the state level and upholding the Constitution's core principles for all citizens, regardless of sex or race. They sent a clear message that the Constitution's principles applied universally.
In conclusion, the myth that the U.S. Constitution is inherently racist or sexist is unfounded. Instead, it was the application of prejudices and biases by states and individuals that denied rights to certain groups. The Constitution itself does not limit these rights in any way.
Amendments such as the 15th and 19th Amendments were essential, not to grant new rights, but to rectify historical injustices at the state level and ensure the Constitution's core principles of equality and individual liberty were upheld universally. This confirmation of the Constitution's principles further affirmed its protection for all citizens.
Debunking the modern myths surrounding the Constitution is vital to understanding the document's enduring importance and the ongoing struggle to uphold its ideals. It reinforces the idea that the Constitution is an exceptional document that can and still does protect the rights of all citizens in pursuit of a more perfect union in the Great American Experiment.