Some accuse Constitutional Conservatives of wanting to
return our country to slavery and restricted voting rights. This is deflection. Constitutional conservatives want the government to adhere to the
Constitution, including amendments, so this argument is specious. Amendments have
solidified American positions on these issues and these amendments are part of
the supreme law of the land.
Many also harbor misunderstandings about how the main body
of the Constitution addressed slavery and voting rights. Despite obvious
shortcomings, by 1775, the American colonies were the most democratic places on
earth. In Britain, voting rights were far more limited than in the colonies. Less
than ten percent of men could vote in Britain, and those who could vote were
selected by local nobility. A far larger segment of men voted in the colonies
and the requirements were set by law, not officials. Voting rights traced back
to the earliest history of the colonies. Within days of landing in Jamestown,
for instance, the first colonists elected an executive officer. Only six men
were allowed to vote in this embryonic colony, but from that moment forward,
colonists expanded the right to vote to broader segments of the population. 