All men are born free and equal. Any violation of their natural rights as men by a government or other men is an illegitemate act of tyranny.
To: HaveGunWillTravel
Problem was that this was not established in the Constitution. Blacks were not recognized as men, and this assumption was upheld by the Dred Scott SCOTUS decision. The 14th corrected and superceded Dred Scott.
# 103 by
The Constitution is just a piece of hemp paper, full of words written by men.
Government recognition has nothing to do with freedom.
Rights are God-given, and any governmental violation of freedom is tyranny.
If the Constitution said that water was not water, water would still be water.
If the Constitution said that water was not water, water would still be water.
In the eyes of the law of the land; in the eyes of the men who created the law of the land, black men were not men. At most they were considered 3/5 of a person. Black men were not people. The Dred Scott decision reaffirmed this. The 14th Amendment removed that distinction.
Certainly our rights are God-given, but we were viewed differently prior to the Emancipation. No amount of declaration can change that. In the eyes of America, we were not people at that time. Where our rights were granted was immaterial at the time.
There is a distinct difference between man's law and moral law. Morally, we always have been men with God-given rights. Legally, this was simply not so.