Our Bill of Rights

In September, 1789, Congress approved the first amendments of our Constitution. In December, 1791 these became the first 10 amendments because they were ratified by a sufficient number of states.

However, these did not eliminate slavery as a lawful institution within the states governed by our Constitution.
Frederick Douglass considered those amendments our "Bill of Lies."

When those amendments referred to "people" not all people were included.

 

Slavery was dealt with in COTUS. 3/5 compromise.

 

The 3/5 compromise was made mostly for representation in Congress. The North had wanted zero count of slaves, the South full count, each wishing to have the greater number of Representatives. The status of the slaves themselves was essentially unchanged.

 

The first ten amendments we supposed to protect the people from the tyranny of government infringement of our inalienable rights. However the government conveniently provided a loop hole by not defining "the people" as white males. Thus, like the Pharisees Jesus addressed, they appeared wholesome on the outside, but will filled with dead man's bones.

Professing Christians claimed to follow Jesus, but then drew a distinction between slave and free, between male and female. And this embedded hypocrisy was not confined to southren "Christian" churches. Many northern churches was not outspoken when it came to abolition of slavery.

In the north, anti-slavery speakers attempted to use "moral suasion" appealing to the "professed" attitudes of their "Christian" audiences, rather than appealing to the use of force.

 

Since slavery was tolerated in many southern churches and racism was tolerated in many northern churches, abolitionists attempted to show the hypocrisy of professing Christ, and enabling slavery.

Fredrick Douglass used his parody, The Slaveholders Sermon, to set his audience at ease, then mollify with humor, then drop the hammer of conviction, in his remarkably effective ministry for humanities inalienable right to liberty. He drew parallels within the Old Testament, always pointing to the hope for freedom for all of God's people.