This paper discusses the American Constitution as a living, evolving document, from guaranteeing the right to enslavement in the 18th century, to modifications in favor of freedom of slaves in the 19th century.
Written in 2005; 1,625 words; 3 sources; MLA; $ 52.95
Paper Summary:
This paper explains that Frederick Douglass' argument, which characterized the American Constitution as an anti-slavery document, divided between free and slave states and territories, does not stand up to sustained legal and historical analysis of the original text of the American Constitution, as signed after the Constitutional Convention, and before the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation. The author points out that the first Constitution clearly was not an anti-slavery document, rather it functioned as the founding of a republic not a democracy, with a dim view of factional interests, including the rights of both slaveholders and slaves. The paper relates that the defenders of the American Union such as Abraham Lincoln used the Constitution to create an anti-slavery position leading to the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation.
From the Paper:
"Slavery, Douglass stated, deprives an individual of his or her dignity, deprives an individual American of the right to dispose of his or her person as he or she sees fit, and lastly deprives a potentially educated American citizen of the right to read and to obtain an education, even if he or she possesses the intellectual capacity to do so, and thus is a violation of the principles of American democracy. Douglass demonstrates that even marriage becomes corrupt in the enslaved states, a mere institution of breeding rather than of Christian love as it ought to be for, "slavery provides no means for the honorable continuance of the race.""
We have thousands of high-quality term papers, research papers, essays, book reports and dissertations on every topic. At AcaDemon, you can download those term papers to help you write yours! You can be sure that the term paper, essay, book report or research paper you download are top-quality, competitively priced and high-level work.
This Free Term Paper Abstract is a part of our Term Paper Library.Here you can purchase research papers, examples of essays, academic dissertations, articles, notes, analytical papers, book reports, stories and poems. We have thousands of persuasive, point-of-view, narrative, critical, compare and contrast and other types of essays in our Library. You can also find here Term papers on "The American Constitution", Essays on "The American Constitution", Research papers on "The American Constitution", Student papers on "The American Constitution", Book reports on "The American Constitution", Dissertation on "The American Constitution", Thesis on "The American Constitution", Summary of paper on "The American Constitution", Articles written on "The American Constitution".
Look for more research papers, essays and book reports on