In Part 2 of our series on history, we said,
While the phrase “all other Persons” refers to slaves, it is noteworthy that their race is not mentioned. Free blacks—“and there were many, North as well as South”—were considered to be, and were numbered as, “free Persons.” Michael Sabo writes,
Nowhere does the Declaration or the Constitution, for that matter, classify human beings according to the color of their skin.
Far from the principle of equality being a product of racism, it actually struck at the heart of slavery. By making equality the defining principle of the nation, the Founders hoped to put slavery on the course of its ultimate extinction.
While some of the Founders held slaves, they knew that blacks were human beings.
In a rough draft of the Declaration, Jefferson charged King George III with waging “cruel war against human nature itself” by keeping “open a market where men should be bought & sold.” [Earlier we cited the larger quote of which these phrases are a part.] By calling slaves men, Jefferson clearly recognized their humanity.
Not only did the Founders think that blacks were human beings, but they also acknowledged the wrongness of slavery in principle.
The Constitution—and, for that matter, the Declaration of Independence—are not racist documents.