It may seem odd at first that the Declaration of Independence doesn't
address the issue of slavery. The left, of course, uses this as an
opportunity to attack it. How could all men be created equal while
slavery still existed? However, the issue was not so cut and dry.
Slavery was ingrained into every culture on earth, and ending slavery
wasn't something that could be changed in one night, the Civil War
proved that.
First, a little background. We inherited our slavery from the British, and King George III opposed anti-slavery laws. In 1774 he vetoed every anti-slave law in America. This caused Thomas Jefferson to condemn slavery directly in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence:
The idea was that the issue of slavery would be addressed at a later time. It was a declaration of independence after all, and not a declaration of emancipation. Besides, at that moment they had more pressing matters. They were about to go to war with the superpower of their day for their very existence. However, when the founders added "all men are created equal", it was an indirect assault on slavery, the first shot across the bow. Without the Declaration of Independence there would be no United States. Without the United States the Civil War would have never happened, and slavery may have continued on even longer.
The slave trade was abolished in 1808, 32 years after our founding. Slavery was ended in 1865, 89 years after our founding. Slavery was ended within a single generation. That the United States ended slavery less than a century after conception should be applauded. Other nations held slaves for far longer before ending the practice. In fact, many nations have fought wars to acquire slaves, but the United States is unique in that it fought a war to end slavery.
First, a little background. We inherited our slavery from the British, and King George III opposed anti-slavery laws. In 1774 he vetoed every anti-slave law in America. This caused Thomas Jefferson to condemn slavery directly in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence:
He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation hither … And he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he had deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.This may seem odd at first for someone who himself owned slaves, which he inherited at the age of 14. But what is lesser known is that Virginia laws prohibited Jefferson from freeing his own slaves due to the fact that he was in debt. In any case, three southern states objected, and it was removed. At this point it was more important to get all the colonies on board first, otherwise the American Revolution would end before it even began.
The idea was that the issue of slavery would be addressed at a later time. It was a declaration of independence after all, and not a declaration of emancipation. Besides, at that moment they had more pressing matters. They were about to go to war with the superpower of their day for their very existence. However, when the founders added "all men are created equal", it was an indirect assault on slavery, the first shot across the bow. Without the Declaration of Independence there would be no United States. Without the United States the Civil War would have never happened, and slavery may have continued on even longer.
The slave trade was abolished in 1808, 32 years after our founding. Slavery was ended in 1865, 89 years after our founding. Slavery was ended within a single generation. That the United States ended slavery less than a century after conception should be applauded. Other nations held slaves for far longer before ending the practice. In fact, many nations have fought wars to acquire slaves, but the United States is unique in that it fought a war to end slavery.
