Saturday, April 17, 2010

The U.S. Constitution - Lesson #11: Slavery & the Constitution

I was going to move forward on our lessons about the Constitution, but felt it was important to deal with a controversy that came out of the creation of the Constitution:  Slavery.  I want to make sure the historical record is straight when it comes to how it was addressed and compromised on during the summer of 1787.

Once it was decided upon that the House of Representatives apportionment would be based on population, slavery became an issue of debate during the Constitution Convention.  The key question on this debate:  Would slaves be counted in the census to determine a state's apportionment in the House of Representatives?

"Persons held to service or labor" is the awkward phrase used to describe slaves (Bennett 121).  At the time of the Constitutional Convention only Massachusetts had abolished the practice, four other states were in the process of doing so (Bennett 122).  In the grand scheme of things, the Founders felt that it was a system that was on the path to extinction.  George Mason, the governor of New York railed against the practice just steps away from his friend largest slave holder in the U.S., and President of the convention, George Washington.  Very few delegates morally approved of the institution.  Washington and Jefferson, future presidents and slave holders, did not approve of the practice but were victims of history and their culture.  Washington would free all his slaves upon his death.  Again showing his greatness, he led by example.

The arguments to end or limit slavery hit a  brick wall in the form of the delegates from the southern states.  No argument of morals or economic seemed to sway them to relinquish that right.  So the Founders did what they did best in this convention. they compromised.  A topic I will address in a future post.

Slavery was not even mentioned in the Constitution, they talked around the subject (Bennet 123).  They used an interesting mathematical formula to determine a state's population for their apportionment in the House:
Representatives.... shall be apportioned among the several states... according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.
This phrase does not mean that slaves viewed as a three fifths of a person but it was only there for figuring out how many representatives each state would get.  In fact, it distinctly calls them persons, not property or chattel.  It was only a mathematical formula to prevent slaveholders from getting more representation in Congress and electoral votes towards the presidency.  This compromise would actually encourage the emancipation of slaves.  As more slaves were free they would be counted as whole persons toward the state's population.  Therefore increasing their representation in Congress.  In the eyes of history, the slave holding southern states were actually denying themselves more representation in Congress by holding the slaves in bondage. 

The Constitution also grants the power to Congress to abolish slavery, not immediately, but after 1808.  By granting this temporary reprieve in the Constitution they secured the approval of several delegates from slaves states, and the possibility eventually of ending slavery.  At the start of the Congressional session in 1808, Congress ended the external slave trade.  Slavery could have been abolished at that time but unfortunately party politics ran that option into the ground until the 1860s and the Civil War. 

There is one other time slavery is talked around in the Constitution.  In Article IV, Section 2, the Constitution states:
No person held to service or labor in one state, under the law thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or regulation, therein, be discharged from such service or labor but shall be delivered up on the claim of the party to whom such service may be due.
This clause is a basic fugitive slave law.  People were required to return slaves to their owners, by the Constitution.  The founders put this in the Constitution because they believed it would not be ratified without it.

As I have stated before in other postings, the Founders made these compromises regarding slavery because that was not the larger issue at stake at the Constitutional Convention.  The issue was the create a government that would be strong enough to administer a nation of 13 different sovereign states, but with enough checks and balances so no branch or state go too powerful over the whole.  The issue of slavery would be the key issue in American politics and debate for the next eighty years of American History.  And it would take a war that killed more men than any other war in our history.  The sins of the forefathers, were paid for by their children a few short generations later, in the Civil War.

Questions?  Comments?  Concerns?  Class dismissed.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Public Policy: Immigration

Today I saw an thread on facebook about the reaction of some people to the idea or term of calling someone an illegal alien or immigrant. I realized, after checking my archives, that I had not discussed the issue of immigration policy in the United States.  Today's posting will deal with that public policy topic.

First, there is nothing wrong when the U.S. Congress write legislation regulation the immigration and naturalization of other people into the United States.  This is one of their expressed powers under Article I, Section 8:  "To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization."  Even though we may not agree with how they have decided to write said laws, there is no question about the authority of the government to make and enforce such laws. 

Secondly, I hate it when people say something like, "Nobody is illegal," or how the terminology has slowly been changing over the last 100 years from illegal alien to illegal immigrant to undocumented immigrant.  If you are a person whose citizenship is from another nation you are an immigrant or alien.  If you came to the U.S. by means that circumvent our laws, then you are here in the country illegally.  Hence the term: illegal alien or immigrant.  So PC police get off the backs of people who want the laws enforced.  Just because you don't like them does not mean other people can break them.  We live in a nation of laws and no one is above it.  Now on with my solutions.

First, we need to be able to control access to our country.  As of right now we have over 4,000 miles of border that is relatively unprotected.  There are several ways you could do this.  The most popular solution is to make a giant wall.  I can get behind that solution.  I would make a nation wide competition for people to submit plans for the "Great American Wall."  The winning design would be chosen by me, the President.  I would then bid out the construction to local companies in the states where the wall would be built.  The money would be appropriated for this project in the federal budget.  This wall or fence would be built along both our northern and southern borders.

I imagine the wall would be double layered anti-scaling fence , with razor wire on the top.  There would be enough room between the two fences for a car or two to pass by each other on patrols.  I would also suggest the fences be electrified.  The foundations would go deep into the earth to prevent tunneling.  Guard towers and access points would be provided every five to ten miles.  Either way the way would be there to provide a difficult physical barrier to stop people from entering.  Also it help stop incursions from the Mexican military and drug cartels.

Second, I would hire additional border patrol agents.  They would man the guard towers in the Great American Wall.  ICE and other agents who work with immigration would man these posts as well to help process the paperwork for any people wishing to enter the United States.  The American military would fill the gaps left by the border patrol.  The Coast Guard would be responsible for paroling the waterways in which people could sneak through.

Thirdly, I would increase work site enforcement of our current immigration laws.  I don't believe the solution is more laws, but enforcing the ones we have already written.  Anybody could tip off ICE to illegal aliens being hired and exploited by their company.  ICE would execute a search and capture both the offending aliens.  Also, the company would be punished as well according to already established laws.  Any elected or appointed official at the state or local level deeming themselves a sanctuary city and refusing to allow federal immigration laws to be properly enforced, would be tried in federal court and punished.

Fourth, after all of the previous steps were completed I, as President, would ask Congress to look at and possibly amend current immigration law and quotas.  One, goal would be to make it easier for people of other nations, who want to come to the U.S., and can contribute to our society and culture to make it easier for them.  If you want to come to our country and make a better life for yourself temporarily that is cool too.  But either way the government needs to be able to keep track of you and your family.  This would probably require monthly checkups on residence, job status and other information.  People on student visas have to prove they are in school and show good progress.  If a student, fails out of school then they are not allowed to live here any more.  End the quota system to allow more people from other areas to come here willingly and cut down the waiting list.  If you are a immigrant here and you commit a crime, depending on the severity you would be deported back to your home country and not allowed to return to the U.S. under any circumstances.

In summary, my policy would be to secure our borders, enforce the current law, and then enact the changes needed for more people to be allowed citizenship to this greatest nation on God's green earth.  As always I welcome any and all comments and suggestions.