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The Bill of Rights Is a Slaveholders Document
There is no doubt there are slaveholder signatories to the Bill of Rights. In fact, likely more than half of the signatories were slaveholders. The portrayal of the Bill of Rights as a slaveholders document misses the point though. There is no argument it is to a great extent, if the definition is having numerous slaveholder signatories. Nonetheless, the Bill of Rights represents a shield for each citizen against the state.
Yes, the fact slaveholders are signatories to the document is important, but for a different reason than the one usually put forth. The participation of the slaveholders is the reason the document represents REAL protection to individual liberty. Things have changed a lot since the 18th century, but they have not changed as much as the politicians and ideologues would have Americans believe.
Remember those slaveholders were expert in relieving people of their liberty. Ergo, they wanted to make sure this was not done to them. The Bill of Rights is an expert construct to protect the individual against the coercion of the state. None can argue the “expertise” of the Southern plantation owners when it came to relieving OTHERS of their liberty.
This makes the Bill of Rights EXPERTLY constructed to protect the rights of the individual. It is a beautiful irony. This great and powerful document now…
