Town Hall Meeting

    Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is John C. Breckinridge, and I am from Kentucky. Born January 21st, 1821, and died May 17th, 1875, I come from a family most prominently known for its practices in law and politics, something I picked up myself later in life. I graduated from Centre College in Kentucky and went on to study law, like my family members, at Princeton University and Transylvania University, with a goal to become an attorney. In my later years, I became the 14th, and youngest, Vice President of the U.S. for the Democratic party serving from 1857-1861. Immediately after I was a Confederate officer during the American Civil War serving from 1861-1865. 

         Today I will be convincing you why I, as a free American, should be able to own and keep slaves. Not only will I convince you that it is my religious right to own slaves, but also my constitutional rights based on the 1st, and 13th,  Amendments. The laws that were put in place to prevent slavery, I will be using to prove why I have a right to own and keep slaves.
 
    The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. As a religious man I believe that because it says in the Bible that I am free to own slaves, I should be able to do so. After all, the FA says that the government cannot prohibit the exercise of my chosen religion. To further my point let's read some bible verses.

Exodus 20:17

Exodus 21:2-7

Exodus 21:20-21

Deuteronomy 15:12-18

The story of Abram (later Abraham)

    Like I said before I am a religious man so I will follow the rules of this Bible. That also means I will follow the rules regarding slave-owning and treatment. My reports show that slaves have been treated properly under my ownership.
 
    Although the 13th Amendment was put into place to prevent slavery, it can still be used to promote slavery. Section 1 of the 13th Amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”. This only prevents slavery and “Involuntary servitude” which means involuntary labor. With this information in mind let’s put these scenarios in play.
 
Scenario 1: From your point of view, I am a slave owner who is forcing others to do my work for no pay. Now you confront me about it, but I say that these men are not being forced to work for me, it’s voluntary.
 
Scenario 2: From your point of view, I have “slaves” with me being forced to serve manual labor. However, when you ask me why I have slaves I will say that these men have committed a crime and they are being punished for it.
 
    In both scenarios, I am technically not owning slaves because in scenario 1 the work they are doing is not Involuntary and in scenario 2 they are being punished for a crime they have committed against me.
 
    I believe that it is well within my rights as a free American, that I can own and keep “slaves”. The act of the government preventing me from owning slaves is a violation of my constitutional rights, as proven above, and will not be tolerated.

Sources

• https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-C-Breckinridge

• https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/13th-amendment#:~:text=The%2013th%20Amendment%20to%20the%20United%20States%20Constitution%20provides%20that,place%20subject%20to%20their%20jurisdiction.%22

• https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-i

• https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/novemberdecember/feature/the-man-who-came-in-second

• https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments