Featuring: Larry Kenneth Alexander
Transcript:
Today, let us look back at the true origins of the Revolution and the Declaration of Independence, a document born from the grievances within America’s colonies yet profoundly shadowed by the issue of slavery. One of the most profound grievances, especially in the Southern colonies, was not merely a demand for freedom from Britain but a bitter reaction to Britain’s abolition of colonial slave statutes.
In 1766, the British Parliament passed the American Colonies Act, also known as the Declaratory Act, which declared all colonial laws conflicting with British legislative authority—including laws establishing slavery—null and void for all purposes. Then, in 1772, England’s highest court reaffirmed Parliament’s authority in the landmark Somerset decision. This ruling stated that slavery had no basis in English law and could only be lawful if explicitly authorized by a positive law, a legislative power held solely by Parliament.
These judicial rulings struck at the heart of colonial slaveholding interests, rendering colonial slave laws void years before the first shots of the Revolution. When the Continental Congress declared independence in July 1776, it bound the United States to the principles of English law, including the Somerset decision. Logically, these principles should have guaranteed fundamental due process for the 500,000 Black men, women, and children living in this new nation. However, Congress, wary of jeopardizing the fragile unity of a fledgling nation, chose to ignore these obligations.
Fearful of a country splintering under the weight of the slavery question, Congress denied fundamental protections for Black individuals that were enshrined under English rule of law. This failure wasn’t a momentary lapse; it reflected a government with limited power to enforce domestic or international obligations. Congress couldn’t guarantee protection, assert control over state sovereignty, regulate currency or trade, or enforce consistent authority. Recognizing these limitations, political leaders called for a general convention that ultimately produced the U.S. Constitution.
In drafting the Constitution in 1787, the framers made calculated concessions to slavery, embedding protections for the institution to preserve the Union. Compromises like the Three-Fifths Clause, the Slave Trade Clause, and the Fugitive Slave Act reflected a conscious decision to prioritize national unity over liberty for all. These choices, made with the hope of eventually extinguishing slavery, planted the seeds for future conflict.
By choosing unity over universal liberty, the framers’ concessions became the fault lines leading to the Civil War. A union held together by compromise would soon face division over the institution Congress and the framers once tried to avoid addressing. As we reflect on our nation’s journey, we are called to confront the legacies of these choices. We must understand the truth: the birth of American freedom was inseparably tied to painful compromises.
It is our charge to learn from this history, to understand the costs of those early concessions, and to shape a future that honors the lessons born from that struggle. A future where freedom is indivisible and justice is equally shared.
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