The Fouding Fathers (U.S.) Didn't Care about the Constitution

Hello, Pro. Before I begin my argument, I would like to confirm that I am strongly against slavery, racism, and any matter of the like. I am simply defending the Founding Fathers of the United States in that they strongly valued the terms of the U.S. Constitution. Your argument, though well worded, exhibited numerous flaws that I would like to rebuke. As stated before, I will be arguing that the Founding Fathers of the United States of America valued and supported the terms of the U.S. Constitution. 1. Your introduction states, correctly, that the Constitution, written with full intentions by the Founding Fathers, was meant to secure liberty for all Americans regardless of race, gender, religion, etc. However, I would like to counter your argument in that the Founding Fathers did, in fact, believe that the Constitution was a liberating force for all people. Yes, minorities have fought for their rights and freedoms well into U.S. History, however, this denial of liberty is in no way the fault of our Founding Fathers. You will find that most parts of the Constitution relating to freedom are in the Preamble, which was written as follows (no source; memorized): "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Obviously, the Founding Fathers of the United States intended for every person in our nation to receive undeniable freedoms and liberties mentioned within the terms of the Constitution. You might ask - why then, were certain liberties denied from certain groups through out our nation's history? Liberties were denied from certain groups throughout the United States history because of those with unconstitutional ideas. Obviously, though the Founding Fathers intent was to give equal rights to all Americans, the intentions of later Americans were quite different. Anti-abolitionists, male chauvinists, and religious bigots have throughout history, attempted to reserve Constitutional rights to only themselves. However, the Founding Fathers were not among their numbers. Obviously, if the Founding Fathers were to take a trip to the future, they would be disgusted by the attempts of those mentioned above to withhold certain liberties from certain groups, and call for change immediately. The terms mentioned in the U.S. Constitution were written with the full intent of being upheld, however, many who disagreed with the Founding Fathers made liberty impossible for certain groups. Yes, the history of America is bloodied by the battles of those wanting rights and freedoms promised in the Constitution, though the Founding Fathers were definitely among the numbers of these fighters for freedom. They excluded nobody from "We the People", as I shall explain in my later rebuttals. 2. Voting Rights - You claim that only a small number of people (land-owning white males) were able to vote under the terms of the Constitution. This could be no further from the truth. Nowhere in the Constitution (Source 1) is it mentioned that only a certain group of people had the right to vote. In fact, the Constitution did not deny any group voting rights whatsoever. The Founding Fathers' full intention was to allow Americans the right to vote, however, this right was denied by those who did not want African-Americans and women to have suffrage. You must notice that the Founding Fathers were not all-powerful, and that their word was not always America's word. Though the Founding Fathers wanted suffrage to be widespread, those outside their power denied certain groups the right to vote. You claim that it took 53 years to extend suffrage to all white men. However, this in no way means that the Founding Fathers wanted it to take that long. The Founding Fathers did not have the power to tell state governments who to give voting power to, if they did, then the struggle for suffrage would not take nearly as long. Once more, the constitution does not mention anywhere that only a certain group has the right to vote, furthermore, the Constitution does not deny any group this right. In fact, when looking at American history, one can see that the courts who made landmark decisions regarding suffrage deemed the limiting of voting rights 'unconstitutional', implying that the Founding Fathers, with full intent, meant what they said in the Constitution and attempted to allow suffrage for all. My opponent is making false assertions about the content of the Constitution (Source 1) by saying that the document limited voting rights. 3. Slavery/Racism - First of all, the Constitution (Source 1) in no way strengthened the institution of slavery. In fact, the Constitution does not even have the word 'slave' or 'slavery' in it, the only mention of the institution is the 3/5 Clause, which Pro has correctly identified. However, this Clause in no way gave power to slave states. The Clause simply apportioned taxes and the number of representatives given per state. As slaves, contrary to the wants of most Founding Fathers, did not have political power, they did not have to pay taxes or take part in representative political decisions, making their inclusion in the tax and representative apportionment unnecessary. This Clause therefore had no negative effect in the rights of slaves. The Clause in no way implied that a slave did not 'count' as much as a free man, it simply understood that slaves did not have to pay state taxes or make representative decisions. I would appreciate if my opponent stopped making statements about the Constitution's content that are absolutely false, as can be proven if you have a copy. He is making uneducated, false accusations about the document that could be disproved by looking at a copy of the document (Source 1). You state yourself that many of the Founding Fathers were against slavery. In fact, when the Constitution was signed, only 12 out of the 55 signers of the Constitution owned slave-operated plantations (Madison, though not a plantation owner, also owned slaves) (Source 2). Obviously, when 55 people are gathered, you cannot expect them all to share a similar, morally correct opinion. I am merely arguing that in general, the Founding Fathers were abolitionists who fought for equal rights for all Americans. Yes, at the time, 13 out of 55 signers owned slaves, 42 did not. This definitely shows something about the major opinion on slavery among our Founding Fathers. Furthermore, a large number of the 13 slave owners were abolitionists, or freed their slaves when they retired or died. You are looking only at the 13 slave owners, not the other 42. Just because Washington or Madison (two of the few Constitution signers who owned slaves) did/said something about slavery, this does not mean that the popular opinion among the Founding Fathers agreed with them. These two men and Jefferson (he didn't sign the Constitution, and is therefore irrelevant to the argument) seem to be the only ones you site during your argument, you do not mention the other 53. Once more, you yourself state that many of the Founding Fathers were abolitionists. I hate to bring up this next point, but in all due respect, it is necessary - just because a Founding Father was racist, it does not mean he didn't value the Constitution (what this whole debate is about). Yes, quite a few Founding Fathers were racist, though they still valued the terms of the Constitution, as they were abolitionists, meaning they were against slavery and for equal rights. The status of one's racial beliefs is irrelevant to whether or not they valued and carried out the terms of the Constitution. Therefore, your accusations of racism are irrelevant. Many Founding Fathers were racist, though were still for the equal rights of all Americans, and therefore valued the Constitution. This supports my side of the debate. You may keep ranting that the Founding Fathers were racist, though this is a waste of space, as your rants do not prove whether the Founding Fathers valued the document they wrote. Once more, at the time of the signing, 42 out of the 55 Constitutional signers did not own slaves on plantations (this excludes Madison, who owned slaves but no plantation), showing something about their overall position on slavery. However, I have not the time to go through the position of every Founding Father. Overall, we can conclude that the clear majority of Founding Fathers were abolitionists, meaning that they were for the freedom of all Americans, thereby promoting their allegiance to the Constitution. Finally, we discuss the evading Jefferson and Adams, both of whom did not sign the Constitution, and are therefore irrelevant to the debate (you ask in your introduction if the Founding Fathers truly valued the document that they created; Jefferson and Adams did not create the Constitution). We can confirm, through various sources, that Adams never owned slaves and was strongly anti-slavery, Jefferson, though a slave owner, opposed the slave trade, disliked the effects of slavery on society, and tried to pass an act banning slavery in the new northern/southern territories (Source 3). Jefferson's track record with slavery is contrasting, I encourage we discuss him no more, as he is irrelevant to the debate. However, I will continue discussing Thomas if you want me to. Overall, I hope I have successfully rebuked your arguments and asserted the intentions of our founders. I have run out of my 10,000 characters now, I would continue debating if I could. Please use your next round for rebuttals. Adios! Source 1: http://www.archives.gov... Source 2: http://www.archives.gov... Source 3: http://en.wikipedia.org...