Free Republic

The Framers structured the Constitution to lead the new Republic to the ultimate end of slavery but were unable to set a time frame for its abolition. The story comes to us from James Madison’s classic Notes of the Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787.The discussion on slavery at the Federal Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 centered on two issues: 1. how to count the slaves in the apportionment of members in the popularly elected House of Representatives and; 2) setting an end date for the slave trade.Three distinct groups clashed on the assignment of House...

In the June 12th, 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights (DOR) are elements familiar to us all, from the Declaration of Independence, later in the Constitution and the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Yet, there are some fascinating differences. As you read, notice the regular use of the words, “ought,” and “should,” as if the drafters were not entirely confident of their authority. To my initial puzzlement, these soft words are used in sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 14 below. Section 1. The rights that God bestowed upon all men at birth cannot be...

PARKERSBURG - A Meigs County native has written a book about the Battle of Point Pleasant and whether it was the first fought in the Revolutionary War. Charles S. Badgley of the Badgley Publishing Co., Canal Winchester, Ohio, says he often heard while growing up along the river in Meigs County that the battle was the first in the war, the basis of his most recent novel, "A Point of Controversy." Conventional wisdom was the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 were the first in the war of independence. "The controversy has been around a long time, it actually...