There is a distinct difference between man's law and moral law. Morally, (black men) always have been men with God-given rights. Legally, this was simply not so.
# 151 by mhking
Men are men, no matter their race, and all men have rights, even if those rights are being infringed upon.
If you're a slave being beaten, you have the right to kill to defend yourself, even though a corrupt government will execute you for asserting that right.
Government can't take your rights away, but they can make asserting your rights downright hazardous to your health.
The purpose of the Founding Fathers was to protect all free men from the power of government.
Everyone realized, even then, that slaves were men. The problem was that slaves were not FREE men. Slaves were considered to be "in bondage," so just as a man in prison was not free, so a slave was not free.
All men, by virtue of being men, should be free.
Even in the United States no man, regardless of race, is safe from the threat of slavery without a Constitutional protection against slavery.
What we need is a Constitutional Amendment outlawing the practice of slavery.
Men are men, no matter their race, and all men have rights, even if those rights are being infringed upon.You'll get no argument from me on that. This is as it should be and always should have been. But in the eyes of the law, at one point, this was not the case. It was morally wrong, and was subsequently corrected.
Government can't take your rights away, but they can make asserting your rights downright hazardous to your health.Your moral rights? Yes, I'll agree with you. But those are entirely different than your legal rights; your rights under the law. Those are established by the government under which you live. This is why an issue of rights comes up with the US v. other lands.
A corrupt (i.e., immoral) government certainly makes it hard to assert your God-given rights. But they have nothing to do with your legal rights. As an example, in the US, your legal right to liberty cannot be abridged. However, in some foreign lands, your legal right to liberty most definitely can and will be abridged. Your moral right to liberty cannot be abridged; only deferred by a corrupt society.
There is a difference. Your legal rights are granted by the state; your moral rights are granted and guaranteed by God.
The purpose of the Founding Fathers was to protect all free men from the power of government.The purpose of the Founding Fathers was to protect all free men from the abuse of power of the state.
Everyone realized, even then, that slaves were men. The problem was that slaves were not FREE men. Slaves were considered to be "in bondage," so just as a man in prison was not free, so a slave was not free.At that point in time, slaves were not necessarily considered men. They were chattel. They were pack animals. They were considered sub-human. While some Christian men and women considered slaves to be human, many in this land did not. This is how they justified their continued acts of slavery, as well as their trade of slaves.
All men, by virtue of being men, should be free.You're singing to the choir here. No one here will disagree with you, least of all me.
Even in the United States no man, regardless of race, is safe from the threat of slavery without a Constitutional protection against slavery.Go back and read your Constitution. The 13th Amendment dealt specifically with the prohibition of chattel slavery within the US and environs.What we need is a Constitutional Amendment outlawing the practice of slavery.
More particularly: "Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."