America was founded on the principle of equality among all individuals and among the races. Yet America's history when it comes to race relations does not always reflect its professed belief in racial equality. While history books teach us that the government has tried to bring about racial equality the true story is far different. In fact, the government has exacerbated the problem of racial tension in America more often than constructively dealing with the problem.
In his terrific new book Dred Scott's Revenge: A Legal History of Race and Freedom in America, Judge Andrew Napolitano takes an honest look at the history of race in America. What he uncovers is a history that is sometimes vastly different from what many people have been taught in school. As a result, this book is a must read.
Judge Napolitano opens the book with a discussion of some of this country's founding principles. The Founders believed in what he refers to as natural law which teaches that our rights and freedoms come from our humanity and not from the government. He then contrasts this view with positivism which states that the law is whatever the majority in power says that it is. Thus, there are no absolute rights since an individual's rights are not based on the unchanging principles of natural law but upon the ever shifting principles of what the government says that they are.
The ultimate expression of positivism, argues Judge Napolitano, was seen in the Dred Scott Supreme Court case from which the book gets its title. In that case, the Court essentially ruled that slavery was lawful because blacks were determined by the Court to be non-persons. This decision would give the Court's stamp of approval to slavery and be one of the major reasons for the outbreak of the Civil War just a few short years later.
He then deals honestly and frankly with both the issues surrounding the Civil War. He makes a strong argument against the popular notion that the war was fought over slavery. Instead, it was a war that was fought to preserve the Union. Abraham Lincoln's legacy is far different from being the emancipator of slaves that we had all been taught. While slaves would eventually gain their freedom as the result of the war they were still kept in legal bondage for years to come. Lincoln comes across as a far more complicated individual when it comes to issues of race than many had been previously been led to believe.
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