Pro-slavery document: No reason for Blacks to celebrate Constitution

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By KWAME M.A. SOMBURU When the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia 200 years ago, Black people-over one-fifth of the non NativeAmerican population—were not represented. Most Blacks were slaves. They were "represented" only as property.

The body of the convention was composed of Southern planters and Northern merchant capitalists. Their discussions concerning slavery pertained only to their own interests.

The Southern planters were powerful enough to acquire a Constitution that not only protected slavery but strengthened it. They obtained a 20-year extension of the slave trade, a fugitive-slave law, and the provision that three-fifths of the slaves be counted as the basis for taxation and political representation.

The South Carolina delegate, Gen. Charles C. Pinckney, reported with satisfaction to the South Carolina ratification convention that:

"By this settlement we have secured an unlimited importation of Negroes for 20 years. Nor is it declared that that importation shall be stopped; it may be continued. We have a right to recover our slaves in whatever part of America they may take refuge. In short, considering all circumstances, we have made the best terms for the security of this species of property it was in our power to make."

So the Constitution was basically a slaveholders' document, and the United States was founded upon the institution of Slavery.

governed"

James Madison, considered to be the "Father of the Constitution," twice president of the United States, and a profound student of history and government, said this in Essay 51 of "The Federalist Papers:" "In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed."

Who were the governed? The lowly status of Blacks was such that they could not qualify to be considered "governed," whether slave or free. The slaves had no more rights than mules, pigs, or dogs. And the free Blacks had limited rights and an ephemeral, precarious existence.

Madison gave a comprehensive summation of his political views in Essay 10 of "The Federalist Papers." He said that the primary function of government is the protection of property, and the "different and unequal faculties of man for acquiring property."

So the recognition of class struggle did not originate with Karl Marx! Over 50 years before the writing of "The Communist Manifesto" by Marx and Frederick Engels, James Madison pointed out: "Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society."

I would like to add, what about those who are considered property?

"The dangers of insurrection"

Blacks were not considered men or women. But the framers of the Constitution realized that their Black beasts of burden-as well as poor, propertyless whites-might revolt. So the Constitution empowered Congress "to provide for calling 16 SOCIALIST ACTION forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.

Historian Charles Beard points out that Madison skillfully took advantage of the slaveholders' fear of slave rebellions to make a point—while appearing to slight that fear. Madison stated:

"In dealing with the dangers of insurrection, I take no notice of an unhappy species of population abounding in some of the states who, during the calm of regular government, are sunk below the level of men; but who, in the tempestuous scenes of civil violence, may emerge into human character and give a superiority of strength to any party with which they may associate themselves.' The successful use of Black soldiers by the colonists during the Revolution must have been acutely observed by Madison. As early as December 1775, George Washington said, "Success will depend on which side can arm the Negroes faster."

Over 5000 Blacks eventually served in the Revolution and made a significant difference in the winning of the war. Likewise, the almost 200,000 Blacks that served in the Union armies during the Civil War were a decisive factor in the Northern capitalists' victory. It can be seen then, that Madison had perceptive hindsight as well as prescience.

Blacks organize for their rights Even free Blacks in the North suffered from the hostility and indifference of white society. They began to realize that organization was necessary in order to have any effect against their oppresssion.

Groups such as the African Society and the African Lodge in Boston and the Free African society in Philadelphia were able to achieve modest successes considering the powerful entrenched interests opposed to social change.

Shortly after the Revolution, JULY 1987 ONG Cuffee, the 21-year-old son of a former slave, angered Massachusetts authorities by refusing to pay his personal tax. He believed that "no taxation without representation" meant that Blacks should be exempted.

But the tax collector said "pay or jail." Cuffee paid, but sent a petition signed by a group of Blacks to the Massachusetts legislature demanding immunity from tax laws because Blacks had "no voice or influence in the election of those who tax us."

Because of the petition, Blacks were eventually granted on paper the same political privileges shared by other Massachusetts citizens.

Political rights stifled

In subsequent years, however, free Blacks were disenfranchised in most of the states. The rise in economic power of the Southern planters-"Cotton was King"-was reflected both in their growing political dominance in national politics and the stifling of the limited political power of Black people.

The right of Blacks to vote was taken away in Georgia in 1789, Kentucky in 1799, Maryland in 1809, Connecticut in 1818, New Jersey in 1820, Pennsylvania in 1830, Tennessee in 1834, and North Carolina in 185J.

Virginia and South Carolina refused the vote to free Blacks from the founding of the Union. Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi entered the Union denying Blacks the franchise.

Laws were passed in the closing decades of the 18th century severely restricting the freeing of slaves. This development was due to the fear of the growing number of free Blacks and their influence on their enslaved brethren. Some were illegally captured and re-enslaved by roving gangs of whites.

In 1797, four free Blacks left the South and filed a petition with the House of Representatives. The petition sought federal protection for themselves and freedom for their relatives-who had been freed, kidnapped, and resold into slavery. The petition stated in part:

"We beseech your impartial attention to our hard condition, not only with respect to our personal sufferings as freemen, but as a class of that people who, distinguished by color, are therefore with a degrading partiality considered by many, even of those in eminent stations, as unentitled to that public justice and protection which is the great object of government."

But the House of Representatives could not represent Blacks and the white ruling classes at the same time. They were not "impartial," and their "great object of government" was not "public justice and protection.

The "competitive partnership"

The Constitution that the House of Representatives is sworn to uphold was a compromise agreement among the three leading classes that fought the British government-the Southern slaveholders, the Northern commercial capitalists, and the petty-bourgeois proprietors of town and country. Major power was shared by the Northern capitalists and the Southern planters.

With the adoption of the Constitution in 1789, a new social partnership was established among the ruling classes as a result of their combined revolutionary struggle for independence.

Unity against the white and Black masses and disunity because of disparate economic factors laid the basis for a "competitive partnership" of vultures North and South for the spoils taken from the British.

That contest continued for 72 years—with vacillations, retreats, and compromises—until it finally exploded into civil war. In the end, the Southern planters with chattel slavery were overcome by the Northern capitalists with wage slavery.

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We the white, male, lando toners of the Unded State