July 12 in the Constitutional Convention: The South Throws Down the Gauntlet

It’s hard to tell on the basis of Madison’s Notes alone but one gets the sense from the text that tensions had grown high between the North and the South on this day. The Southern representatives continue to insist on a principle of representation that counts “both the white and the black people.” Insofar as “the black people” were essentially all slaves, this meant the Southern states were demanding a principle of full “representation” for their non-voting slaves; they were demanding that their votes count for more than their Northern compatriots. William Davies from North Carolina gives what one can … Continue reading July 12 in the Constitutional Convention: The South Throws Down the Gauntlet

In Defense of Hypocrisy: the Confusion of the 1776 Report and its Critics

Underlying the debate about the 1776 Report is the question as to the founders’ hypocrisy. The report states: “The most common charge leveled against the founders, and hence against our country itself, is that they were hypocrites who didn’t believe in their stated principles, and therefore the country they built rests on a lie. This charge is untrue and has done enormous damage…with a devastating effect on our civic unity and social fabric.” The Report’s critics point to this obvious contradiction more than almost anything else. How can the report have any integrity insofar as it claims the founders weren’t … Continue reading In Defense of Hypocrisy: the Confusion of the 1776 Report and its Critics