The doc-ument they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.
Comment by Boris Tiraspolsky:
All the above quotes are taken from a public speech by Mr. Obama made on March. 18, 2008 in Philadelphia. His eloquence was dedicated primarily to solving a controversy of his twenty year relationship with Pastor Jeremiah Wright. (
Transcript of Obama's speech on race)
However, my comment here is not about that controversy. My comment is about an ignorance of the president - elect in the American History and most importantly in the Ideology of the U.S. Constitution.
Let's begin with his first statement:
"Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy."
This ideological statement by Mr. Obama is very difficult to agree with. The Framers of the U.S. Constitute never launched "experiment in democracy." And I doubt that they would had appreciated Mr. Obama's statement: "experiment in democracy". The latter was never on minds of those 39 men who signed Articles of the U.S. Constitution in that Spring of 1787.
There is no question that all thoughts of the Framers were about an Ideological Instrument to establish the Constitutional Republic that would be able to secure Blessings of Liberty for them and their Posterity. The word "democracy" never was a part of the U.S. Constitution's vocabulary.
The second statement by Mr. Obama is totally unsupported with historical facts. Mr. Obama said: "
Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787." That is simply incorrect.
The Declaration of Independence was signed by the Founding Fathers in 1776 and after seven years of the war finally, in February of 1783 George III issued his Proclamation of Cessation of Hostilities, culminating in the Peace Treaty of 1783. Signed in Paris on September 3, 1783, the agreement — also known as the Paris Peace Treaty — formally ended the War for Independence. Therefore, the Paris Peace Treaty "made real" the Declaration of Independence in the autumn of 1773.
The next statement by Mr. Obama is another questionable revelation:
"The doc-ument [The Constitution of the United States] they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery..."
As far as it concerns Mr. Obama's thought about the Constitution being "ultimately unfinished", it is a pure product of Mr. Obama's imagination. The Framers signed the fully complete doc-ument. No matter what Mr. Obama may think or imagine. Period. Another thing is an accusation of the Constitution in prolonging a slavery in America. It is a serious ideological attack. Here is my response "to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution".
The U.S. Constitution is a full embodiment of absolute Ethics and perfect Esthetics. It is a call for "a more perfect Union" with fulfilling the Eternal Dream of Mankind for justice, domestic tranquility, common defense and general welfare.
That is exactly why I think that is totally wrong to mud the Constitution with stains of the "nation's original sin of slavery...". Let me remind Mr. Obama that it was the U.S. Constitution that became instrumental in abolishing the slavery in America. It looks like Mr. Obama being carried away by his eloquence forgot about that undeniable fact.
I understand that Mr. Obama's speech was with a good intention to condemn racism and find ways to overcome this ugly part of the American history. I am all for it too! Just one last comment. As great Benjamin Franklin once said: "Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment."