Freedom is a term that people use to describe their own sense of self. One can be the best self when freedom is fully achieved. However, as the saying goes, “freedom is not free”; this idea comes with a great and bloody price. When analyzing the events that gave Americans their sovereignty from England and the freedom of expansion against the natives, it is clear that their desire forced others to suffer against their own will. The value of freedom ultimately has been and can still be seen now as contradicting with slavery and oppression, thus liberty and slavery countering each other became more and more evident in American history between 1607 and 1800.
One of the first evidences of slavery contradicting values in America’s past can be seen …show more content…
Being the document that governs and sets up the system of authority in the United States, one would think that the Constitution would offer clear and equal laws for each citizen, not to mention that the states recently fought a war to gain independence from England. Thomas Jefferson’s saying “All men are created equal” is a crucial sentence in the Declaration of Independence. Not only did the founding fathers use this to help shape the document, but it also made the idea of slavery all the more convoluted. For example, in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, it discusses how representation would be given to the enslaved African Americans, also known as the Three Fifths Compromise. The compromise is one of the most misinterpreted parts in the Constitution. Although it does not deny that African Americans are equally represented people, it does not clearly state that they are fully represented as equal citizens either. To include them, the Constitution referred to slaves as Persons. This method of oppressing African Americans is a very unique and ironic way of implementing coercion. Within the Constitutional guidelines, it offers every American the entitlement to various emancipations. The Fifth Amendment, in particular, makes sure that “no person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law” ; however, this law refuted the idea of slavery entirely. Slaves were underprivileged of rights in addition to the prevention of holding any property. Of course, slavery is not explicitly stated in the Constitution, but it still does not offer clear statement in how it should not be abolished. The presence of slaves still allowed the institution of brutal punishment and the existence of hierarchical order, therefore going against the idea of slavery entirely. Thus, the Constitution contradicts itself by sanctioning
One of the first evidences of slavery contradicting values in America’s past can be seen …show more content…
Being the document that governs and sets up the system of authority in the United States, one would think that the Constitution would offer clear and equal laws for each citizen, not to mention that the states recently fought a war to gain independence from England. Thomas Jefferson’s saying “All men are created equal” is a crucial sentence in the Declaration of Independence. Not only did the founding fathers use this to help shape the document, but it also made the idea of slavery all the more convoluted. For example, in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, it discusses how representation would be given to the enslaved African Americans, also known as the Three Fifths Compromise. The compromise is one of the most misinterpreted parts in the Constitution. Although it does not deny that African Americans are equally represented people, it does not clearly state that they are fully represented as equal citizens either. To include them, the Constitution referred to slaves as Persons. This method of oppressing African Americans is a very unique and ironic way of implementing coercion. Within the Constitutional guidelines, it offers every American the entitlement to various emancipations. The Fifth Amendment, in particular, makes sure that “no person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law” ; however, this law refuted the idea of slavery entirely. Slaves were underprivileged of rights in addition to the prevention of holding any property. Of course, slavery is not explicitly stated in the Constitution, but it still does not offer clear statement in how it should not be abolished. The presence of slaves still allowed the institution of brutal punishment and the existence of hierarchical order, therefore going against the idea of slavery entirely. Thus, the Constitution contradicts itself by sanctioning