Constitution the Underlying Position of Term Paper

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" (Berns, 28). The assertion that these rights are innate places them before the structuring of society and government, and makes the task for a society built out of these principles to find some way to attain them.

This broad perspective sets the stage for Berns' handling of the segments of society that were understood to be unworthy or unwilling to enter into the social contract of the United States. The Tories are the first subset of colonial society that Berns addresses. To him, they occupy a unique place in the discussion of constituting the people of the United States because they categorically opposed the premises of the United States upon philosophical or political grounds. He notes that many were loyalists to the crown simply for personal and economic reasons and others for religious reasons -- like the Quakers -- but the most interesting, to Berns, are those who were dedicated monarchists. They first two subsets of Tories were somewhat assimilated into American society, but he implies that the exile of the third subset was essential to the continuity of the United States. After all, the United Empire Loyalists still exist today -- their beliefs could not be overcome simply through warfare.

The next group that Berns discusses is the American Indians, who have yet to truly attain equality. Once again, he summons John Locke to explain why they were considered undeserving of protection under the natural law; "Of greatest significance is the fact... that men and peoples are not equally civilized, a consideration to be weighed when deciding with whom to contract when constituting a civil society." (Berns, 39). So, because they were perceived to be barbarous peoples, Indians were denied to opportunity to become part of the United States.

Berns has a more difficult time explaining why the American social contract could not be extended to black Americans, but he nonetheless seems to justify the actions of the founding fathers.

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He quotes Lincoln as having said of slavery that it should be regarded "as an evil not to be extended, but to be tolerated and protected only because of and so far as its actual presence among us makes that toleration and protection necessary." (Berns, 44). Thus, its toleration is to be understood as an act of utility, not a blatant violation of morality.

Finally, Berns ends his debate by mentioning how close the founding fathers of the United States came to putting religious restrictions upon citizenship and office holding. He argues that holding fast to the bases of the Declaration of Independence is what prevented this measure from being adopted.

Overall, Berns puts the acts of exclusion by American society into a philosophical perspective that grows out of the Declaration of Independence. It is a significant argument because it adds a certain amount of continuity to an aspect of history that is, on some levels, fraught with contradictions. However, his explanations seem somewhat superficial in that major political moves can rarely be understood as direct consequences of political philosophy. He is forced to face this fact when he discusses the perpetuation of slavery after the Constitution, and some of the more tangible motivations behind emancipation. Most damning of all is the fact that he fails to attend to the inequities associated with social class. He seems to argue that since many of the loyalist aristocrats were dispatched after the revolution, American society started upon more equal ground than its European counterparts. Even if this is an accurate assessment, it cannot justify the stratified society that took hold in the United States in the face of a philosophy that held fast to universal equality.

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