Are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution Racist?

             The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is the recent announcement that both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are racist. This is according to the agenda for the Biden administration, and the National Archives is working with the regime. It has added a “harmful language alert” to the images of the Constitution and Declaration. Imagine that! This regime is condemning our founding documents because they do not approve of the wording found in them. Fox News is reporting that references to the two documents should no longer be known as “charters of freedom.”

            This is another attempt to show that America has been a racist nation from its beginning, and that the founding documents are rooted in racism and slavery. They claim that the Revolutionary War was fought over slavery, which is patently wrong. The American colonists fought for freedom to live according to their own consciences. The Constitution did not immediately end slavery in the nation, but the Framers included in the Constitution instructions of how to end slavery. Michael Austin gave the following explanation. 

All of this feeds into a larger narrative pushed by President Joe Biden and the left in general: the idea that racism and slavery are both rooted in the founding documents and that, therefore, America itself was founded on racist principles.

This couldn’t be farther from the truth.

America isn’t rooted in racism or even slavery. Quite the contrary is true: This country was built on the ideals of freedom and individual liberty.

            Austin then quoted historian Matthew Spalding, who pointed out in a 2002 report for The Heritage Foundation that many of the founding fathers were against slavery and attempted to end it. However, they were forced to work around the demands of the representatives from the southern states. They did not end slavery, but they “designed the founding documents so that slavery could one day be abolished.” Spaulding’s statement is as follows:

In order to get the unified support needed for the Constitution’s ratification and successful establishment, the framers made certain concessions to the pro-slavery interests. The compromises they agreed to, however, were designed to tolerate slavery where it currently existed, not to endorse or advance the institution.

            The bottom line is that the Constitution included a deadline of twenty years to end the importation of slaves. The importation of slaves stopped in 1808, as soon after the ratification of the Constitution as could be done.