History BlogPost

Why did the constitution allow slavery to continue, if the Declaration of Independence claimed that ‘all men are created equal’?

The constitution allowed slavery to continue while the Declaration of Independence claimed that all men are equal because when they are talking about ‘all men’ they are talking about rich white men, and not keeping slaves in consideration. Those who were part of the Articles of Confederation were rich white men, so those who would be creating the Declaration of Independence would also be men trying to help themselves. John P Kaminski, a historian, said that all of the movements that people created never worked because they weren't passionate enough for it. “The men at the constitutional convention never considered getting rid of slavery. The revolutionary talk of freedom and equality had been left behind.”  No one really tried enough to banish slavery, since they didn't really know what it felt like to be a slave. Another quote from Kaminski states that Americans were more passionate about keeping their ‘private property’: “Americans in general and all the men... wanted a united, well ordered... in which private property - including slave property - would be secure.” William Freehling, another historian, said that though the founding fathers, like Thomas Jefferson, had broken through the barriers of racism, but he still believed that whites were superior to blacks. “Jefferson suspected that blacks had lower intellectual abilities than did whites.” So though he did ‘fight’ on their side, he still believed they were inferior, which caused them not to include the slaves in the population. In conclusion, when writing in the Declaration of Independence that all men were equal, they were speaking of rich white men, and not the slaves who were part of the population.