Race in the American Political System: The Jacksonian Paradox
When the Declaration of Independence was drafted, the statement ‘all men are created equal’ was not a blanket statement that supported the equality of all mankind; rather it was a proclamation referring to the natural rights and freedoms of franchised voters, in other words, white property-owning males. Written about a decade later, the Constitution operated under the same basic assumption. Initially, this left other white males, women, Blacks, and American Indians excluded from our nation’s political system in a tradition of inegalitarianism. According to the writers of American Government in Black and White, Paula D. McClain and Steven C. Tauber, one of the three pillars of our national government is inegalitarianism, or the “. . . tradition of excluding large segments of the American population from participation in the political system despite the universal language of equality, liberty, and freedom” (McClain and Tauber 10). To truly be a student of the American government and politics, one must understand the role race played in the development of the United States political system.
The first step towards enfranchisement of the …show more content…
Others, like African Americas, were part of a tradition of political exclusion but still significantly impacted the development of America’s government and political system. While we, as a nation, have widened our definition of ‘all men are created equal’ we still have work to do. Inegalitarianism may be weakened today compared to our political system in the past, but it is still not entirely gone. If one understands the role race played in developing our country’s government and political system, then he or she can better understand inegalitarianism. Hopefully, this knowledge could be used for not only the extinction of inegalitarianism, but also the promotion of
When the Declaration of Independence was drafted, the statement ‘all men are created equal’ was not a blanket statement that supported the equality of all mankind; rather it was a proclamation referring to the natural rights and freedoms of franchised voters, in other words, white property-owning males. Written about a decade later, the Constitution operated under the same basic assumption. Initially, this left other white males, women, Blacks, and American Indians excluded from our nation’s political system in a tradition of inegalitarianism. According to the writers of American Government in Black and White, Paula D. McClain and Steven C. Tauber, one of the three pillars of our national government is inegalitarianism, or the “. . . tradition of excluding large segments of the American population from participation in the political system despite the universal language of equality, liberty, and freedom” (McClain and Tauber 10). To truly be a student of the American government and politics, one must understand the role race played in the development of the United States political system.
The first step towards enfranchisement of the …show more content…
Others, like African Americas, were part of a tradition of political exclusion but still significantly impacted the development of America’s government and political system. While we, as a nation, have widened our definition of ‘all men are created equal’ we still have work to do. Inegalitarianism may be weakened today compared to our political system in the past, but it is still not entirely gone. If one understands the role race played in developing our country’s government and political system, then he or she can better understand inegalitarianism. Hopefully, this knowledge could be used for not only the extinction of inegalitarianism, but also the promotion of