Featuring: Larry Kenneth Alexander
Transcript:
Parliament abolished colonial slave codes and Negro laws in 1766, and Thomas Jefferson recognized colonial slavery’s criminality under English law. Jefferson, in drafting the Declaration of Independence, sought to legalize slavery in this nascent nation and wanted America to abandon Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence and English rule of law in favor of Roman law to accommodate hereditary slavery. After independence was declared in 1776, Jefferson watched with deep frustration as America’s first Congress and the 13 state legislatures adopted Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence and English rule of law. Their legislative acts preserved a legal system that thwarted the merging of democracy and slaveocracy, two disparate ideals Jefferson had carefully provided for in drafting the Declaration.
These legislative decisions struck a fatal blow to the moral and legal foundation of slavery and a new democratic republic where all men could be created equal under the rule of law. Jefferson understood that the Declaration of Independence was written to communicate its message to multiple audiences, including the British government, the colonists, and the broader international community. Using a classical three-part structure, like a legal brief, Jefferson included: one, an argument—the preamble established the justification for independence; two, evidence—the list of grievances supported the colonies’ case for independence; and three, the formal Declaration of Independence. He became convinced and forever lamented that Congress had mangled his historic Declaration, as the English rule of law negated much of the Declaration’s evidence proffered to support independence.
Jefferson’s lamentations were not sentimental or abstract. The British Imperial government’s abolition of the 13 Colonies’ most valuable laws was a pivotal grievance to support their claim for independence. Under the rule of law and English precedent, slavery in the 13 American colonies violated each colonial charter, the Magna Carta of 1215, and the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Further, when Parliament passed the American Colonies Act of 1766, it reaffirmed its supreme legislative authority over colonial lawmaking. It abolished all colonial slave codes and Negro laws as they denied Parliament’s exclusive authority. Then, in 1772, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, in his Somerset decision, declared slavery was not allowed and approved by the law in the kingdom and could only exist if Parliament explicitly authorized it—a power Parliament had never exercised in the American colonies. In effect, this decision declared colonial slave codes and Negro laws void ab initio.
Jefferson was certain that the Patriots’ list of grievances was completely compromised. Such was the reason why he warned America’s Congress that adopting English law, with all its legal precedents rejecting slavery, would end slaveholding Patriots’ claims and compromise the very ideals of freedom, justice, and equality set forth in the Declaration’s preamble. However, the Founding Fathers and the 13 state legislatures were not persuaded, despite his persuasive arguments. In this struggle, Jefferson found solace in his friend John Adams, who, in 1770, during the Boston Massacre trials, had famously said, “Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”
Jefferson knew the truth of Adams’ words. Facts are indeed stubborn. They remain as a witness to America’s origin, demanding that we face our history honestly. For if we are to build a nation worthy of the principles in our Declaration, we must reconcile ourselves with the stubborn facts of our past, as Jefferson understood so well.
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