How the U.S. Constitution changed from the 1790's to 1877

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Constitutional Changes
From its inception, the American constitution is thought to have been a document that called for the equality of all men. This is asserted by the fact that the fathers of the nation sought to free it from the jaws of its oppressors, which were the British colonizers. In other words, it can be sad that the document was put in place in a bid to make sure that the discrimination and mistreatment that the American people went through never recurred in the future of the American country. This looks very appealing and good hearted. However, a closer examination reveals that this was not the case.
According to the Revolution Community, the constitution was written by 55 delegates who met in Philadelphia in May 1787 to write a document that could unite the 13 newly independent states (1). They went ahead and sis their job. However, the constitution did not exactly provide for all the people to be equal, especially for the slaves who were in the newly founded states. It stated that all the American inhabitants were equal. If it went this far, then it could be said that the slaves were considered as well. However, it went further to define who the slaves, or the Black Americans were. They were seen as "Inhabitants, but debased by servitude below the equal level of free inhabitants" (Revolution Community 1). This meant that under the law, the slaves had no rights since the rights were reserved for the inhabitants. It went further to claim that the slaves were considered by the law as people in some instances and as property in other instances. This implied that they could be sold as property and they could also have to bear seeing their loved ones ripped away from them so that they could become other people`s property. To add insult to injury, the Constitution went on to claim that "it is the character bestowed on them by the laws under which they live" (Revolution Community 1). This implied that the slaves could be pushed into forced labor and mistreated by their masters. Furthermore, their masters could even kill them and still not be subjected to any serious prosecution for the offence. In other words, there was no way that the constitution protected the rights of the slaves in the Free states. They were still in slavery just as they were before independence.
It is this realization that makes the Revolution Community hold that the Constitution was drafted, passed and ratified by the slave owners who were keen on protecting their interests and making their discrimination and mistreatment of others justifiable by the law. In as much as the constitution had many advantages and provided for the freedoms of the people, this was one area in which it totally failed to look at the rights of the people from the point of equality. All the people in the Free states were inhabitants at the time. Why, then, should the constitution have a provision that allows some to have an advantage over the others, and even give them the mandate to mistreat the discriminated group?
This prospect led to quite a heated debate among the people who supported slavery and those that did not. There were the philanthropists on one side who advocated for abolition of slavery, and there were the slave owners who felt the need to maintain their grip on the slaves. This led to sharp divisions between the Northern states which favored slavery and the Southern states which stood opposed to it. It also provided a political platform where the politicians could use their opinions on the issue to win favor in the masses. As such, the political arena which is seen to date was set, where opponents take different stands on a given issue. As such, it can be said that the constitution at the time served to bring divisions within the society. This can be seen even today, where the Democrats and Republicans always tend to argue over a given issue, each taking the opposite direction.
Far from that, it appeared that the constitution was lacking and there was the need to amend it so that it could be all inclusive. However, some of the changes did little to change the fate of the slaves. For instance, there was the Amendment XIII which was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865 and ratified on December 6, 1865. This legislation, in Section 1, had it that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction" (Archives.gov, Amendment XIII). To some extent, this might seem as if it had come to save the situation of the slaves and made them even more secure in the nation. However, Revolution Community observes that this was not the case. Rather, this amendment was meant to blindfold the people so that they ...