On
December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment to the U.S. constitution was
ratified and with it came the formal abolishment of slavery in this country. It
states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the
United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This amendment was
especially significant considering that just eight years prior in 1857 the
Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford that blacks were property and non-persons.
Even
earlier than this, on July 1, 1854, Lincoln wrote this small fragment to
address some of the popular arguments but forward by pro-slavery choice advocates
who argued that whites should have the right to enslave blacks based on color,
intellect, or interest:
“You say A is white and B is black.
It is color, then: the lighter having the right to enslave the
darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be a slave to the first man you
meet, with a fairer skin than your own. You do not mean color
exactly?—You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the
blacks, and therefore, have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be
a slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own. But,
say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest,
you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his
interest, he has the right to enslave you.”
Read that again. The importance of Lincoln’s logic
should not be overlooked. Lincoln realized that if you try to establish human
rights or personhood by appealing to a set of arbitrary degreed properties
which carry no moral weight or significance, properties such as color and
intellect which none of us share equally, then you end up undermining human
rights for everyone.
