re lincoln slavery was re top ten tricks cramer optilink com clayton cramer writes judy technology com judy mcmillin writes cramer optilink com clayton cramer writes can you provide some evidence that the slave states regarded slaves as not humans they were outside our society and similar phrases that basically meant that they didn t have to recognized as having the same rights as a free person but they were never considered not human to my knowledge isn t the fact that slaves were purchased as opposed to hired enough evidence that they were not thought as humans didn t the bill of rights provide basic freedoms to humans that were not available to slaves not necessarily distinctions were made between citizens and persons throughout the u s and various state constitutions for example free blacks had some rights of citizens but not all the rights of citizens i m curious if there was an additional level of distinction made by the slave states to rationalize their treatment of slaves or if they just ignored the theoretical problems of slave ownership the bill of rights as far as i can see does not once refer to citizens but it makes several references to people for example article iv the right of the people to be secure in their persons houses papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated article v no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment by a grand jury nor shall any person be deprived of life liberty or property without due process of law article viii excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted now i ve never heard that constitutional rights apply only to citizens aren t they meant to apply equally to all persons living in the u s whether slaves were considered not human i don t know but it seems that a case could be made that they weren t treated as people as defined in the bill of rights and since the nation is nominally based on the declaration of independence which states that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness it would also seem that slaves would not follow under this definition of humanity eric smith erics netcom com erics infoserv com ci
