frame

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

DebateIsland.com is the largest online debate website globally where anyone can anonymously and easily debate online, casually or formally, while connecting with their friends and others. Users, regardless of debating skill level, can civilly debate just about anything online in a text-based online debate website that supports five easy-to-use and fun debating formats ranging from Casual, to Formalish, to Lincoln-Douglas Formal. In addition, people can improve their debating skills with the help of revolutionary artificial intelligence-powered technology on our debate website. DebateIsland is totally free and provides the best online debate experience of any debate website.





"America was founded by slave owners who want to be free". -George Carlin

Debate Information

Do you agree?
  1. Live Poll

    Was George Carlin right?

    3 votes
    1. Yes.
      66.67%
    2. No.
      33.33%



Debra AI Prediction

Predicted To Win
Predicted 2nd Place
44%
Margin

Details +




Post Argument Now Debate Details +

    Arguments


  • MayCaesarMayCaesar 5965 Pts   -   edited October 2018
    Yes and no. The proper answer would be "partially", but even that does not exhaust the question entirely.

    First of all, it is important to understand the dominating mentality at that time. Slaves were not seen as something special by any significant fraction of the population; they were considered just another type of property, along with buildings, cattle, vegetables, mining tools, etc. The question on the status of slaves, raising from the eventual consideration of the view that slaves are people rather than property, became a part of the political landscape a bit later than the period of gaining independence from the British Empire.
    In this context, given that the Empire did not treat slavery much different from how it treated any other type of property on its colonies' territories, you could group up all the property into one category and generalize the claim to: "America was founded by property owners who wanted to be free". And that is much closer to the historical realities.

    Let us consider now this generalized claim. The treatment of individual property by the Empire was, indeed, the core factor in emergence and escalation of the independence movement, and the freedom for the colonists to own property was a part of it. But there is more to it than meets the eye.

    It is common nowadays to hear the following interpretation: "The Independence War was a response to the harsh taxation of the colonies by the empire". This is not a very accurate interpretation, since not only were the taxes not significantly increased prior to the war - but it also misses the fact that other British colonies did not join the rebellion, despite existing in a very similar legal environment.

    The core reason the War and the consequent independence occurred lays in the dominating political philosophy in the American colonies. For religious, historical and philosophical reasons, the notion became popular in the 13 colonies that policing should be done by locally appointed and consented upon by the local population individuals, as opposed to the centralized government existing overseas. While the British rule was overall accepted, it was not seen as having been given a mandate to appoint the officials without the colonists' consent - the mandate it systematically utilized nonetheless. The Quebec Act of 1774, essentially taking away the right to define economical policies from the colonists, was the last nail in the coffin of the incredibly unpopular system.

    On the other hand, say, in Canadian provinces, where the dominating political philosophy was very different and defined by the (at the time) leading version of Catholicism, the British policies were not seen as encroachment on people's rights, because the concept of rights there did not contradict having to abide by the policies dictated from overseas. In other words, the property owners trusted the Crown to define proper economical policies on their land, and did not see the possibility of excessive taxes as something inherently unnatural.

    To summarize, the ability to own property (including slaves) that is regulated only by the locally elected officials was what led to the foundation of the US. The colonists believed that every restriction of property rights should be consented on by the affected population, and the affected population alone, and nobody else. This does not mean that the restriction itself cannot exist, or cannot be harsh; for example, a slave owner living in Massachusetts and supporting the Independence War realized very well that his right to own slaves could be abolished in the end - but he believed that the local population would not do that, understanding how important slavery was for their prosperity at the time.

    So, Carlin is not wrong - his characterization is simply reductionist, separating slavery into a special category, while the same reasoning applied to every other property category. It was about the freedom to own and control property, not the freedom to own slaves (albeit not excluding it either).
  • George_HorseGeorge_Horse 499 Pts   -  
    America was founded by men who wanted to live in freedom without being harrassed by Great Britain.
    "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? " ~Epicurus

    "A communist is like a crocodile" ~Winston Churchill

    We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.~Orson Welles
Sign In or Register to comment.

Back To Top

DebateIsland.com

| The Best Online Debate Experience!
© 2023 DebateIsland.com, all rights reserved. DebateIsland.com | The Best Online Debate Experience! Debate topics you care about in a friendly and fun way. Come try us out now. We are totally free!

Contact us

customerservice@debateisland.com
Terms of Service

Get In Touch