29 January 2006

It was outlawed, wasn't it?

One of the very funnest of things reading the Constitution is finding the little bits and pieces that other people really do tend to neglect. I have posted a couple of minor items which led to some insights on Roe v. Wade and Citizenship and the right to keep and arm bears... ummmm... keep and bear arms and the other language regarding regularization of Militias. And even the fact that the concept of a House of Repesentatives able to make its own size and definition of what is allowable representation seems a bit on the dubious side in the modern era. By contrast this one is a quickie!

Slavery is outlawed completely within the United States, right?

Check out Amendment XIII:

"Section 1.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.

Section 2.Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

Note the exception. That is still, to this very day, available under the US Constitution and was *not* amended by later language.

I guess there IS something harsher than a life sentence in prison...

NOW can we talk about victim's rights?

PLEASE???

The Constitution: simple, clean and full of little nuggets to think about.

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