The 230th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States took place over the weekend on Sunday, Sept. 17. President Trump proclaimed the date both as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day so as to recognize the adoption of the Constitution in 1787, as well as those who have become U.S. citizens since its adoption.
Hamilton College, and specifically the Government Department, observed the national holiday by inviting Professor Melvin L. Rogers, PhD, to deliver a Constitution Day lecture, titled “Democratic Faith: Thomas Jefferson, the People, and Early Black Politics,” in the Red Pit on Monday, Sept.18.
Rogers is currently an Associate Professor of Political Science at Brown University, where he focuses on African-American moral and political philosophy. He is the author and editor of numerous published works and is currently at work on several other projects as well. In light of his busy schedule, Rogers was able to speak at Hamilton, which he mentioned shared a familiar environment with his alma maters, Bowdoin and Amherst. He noted the tendency of liberal arts colleges in rural areas to lend themselves to tight-knit communities of intellectual discourse.
In concurrence with the observance of Citizenship Day along with Constitution Day, Rogers opened his lecture with reference to the “great shock” that most non-white American citizens encounter in their lives — the shock that their race is in opposition to their inclusion in America. He labeled the struggle of racial progress in America as a problem “of the grand experiment of democracy.”
The struggle for racial progress in America, according to Rogers, began upon the adoption of the Constitution, and it remains a struggle in 2017. From Post-Antebellum, to Jim Crow, to the Civil Rights Era, to Black Lives Matter, Rogers explained that each movement has attempted to address the “differential status” of African Americans that has been too frequently ignored.
According to Rogers, while still often neglected, as evident in the founding of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2013, the progress made by African-Americans throughout history is nevertheless visible today. African American strides in the direction of fairness and equality has manifested itself in the Constitution.
Thus, when Rogers raised the question in his speech, “How do we work for progress when there is no guarantee it will be realized,” his answer returned to the law of land. The Constitution offers a solution to the skeptical and uncertain endeavor for progress, as does one of its most highly credited authors, Thomas Jefferson.
Before his discussion of the Constitution, Rogers impressed his listeners with his extensive knowledge and deep understanding of slavery in America, including the Abolitionist Movement. He focused on two abolitionists and outstanding figures in American history: Martin Delaney and Frederick Douglass. Both African American, both abolitionists, and both writers, they held almost opposite views on racial progress.
Delaney, as Rogers described in so many words, had little hope in the American polity as it was. Delaney claimed he would struggle for equality if there was any hope of its realization, but he believed there was none. Delaney was discouraged in part by the Fugitive Slave Law, which he saw as the “underlying culture of American society” and “an expression of American politics” at the time. Figures like Delaney once used the term “moral monstrosity” to described the Fugitive Slave Law. Thus, Rogers presented the question to us in the audience, is Delaney correct? He suggested that we may still hear the echoes of Delaney in the Black Lives Matter movement who preach the “moral monstrosity” of the premature deaths of black Americans and the unwarranted violence law enforcement inflicts upon them.
In contrast, Rogers offered the perspective of Delaney’s peer and colleague, the well-known author Frederick Douglass, and described Douglass’s attitude as more optimistic. Douglass had faith in the transformation of white Americans, which he argued directly to Delaney himself.
Rogers settled the discourse between these two historical figures in his speech by presenting a third figure; Thomas Jefferson. Rogers proposed that Jefferson might offer insight into African American progress not because he was uniquely sympathetic or felt black pain, but rather because of his contribution to the constitution.
Rogers described Jefferson’s ideals as “Democratic Perfectionism,” because they are based on the aspirations of the people, that is, the people not yet in existence, embodied the famous first phrase of the constitution, “we the people.” As a founding father, Jefferson famously embraced the “spirit of openness in the people,” as Rogers described. Jefferson acknowledged that “the people” referred to in the Constitution includes the people of the past as well as the people of the future. “We” refers to the “we” of political life today.
Jefferson believed in keeping pace with the times, as Rogers acknowledged. Jefferson understood the Constitution as a document that is forever unfolding and that therefore forces us to embrace a vision of America for future generations. The construction and reconstruction of our political world, unlike Delaney’s assertion, is not a dream. It is, according to Jefferson, the most essential principal the Constitution.
During his lecture, Rogers continued to assert that, because of its ever-changing quality, “citizenship” as a question can never be officially settled, since it would undermine the changeability of the Constitution. “We the people” should remain purposely ambiguous, otherwise Delaney would be correct in his rendering of the polity unchangeable.
Rogers ended his discussion of progress with the notion of fate. He argued that the uncertainty of political progress can never be avoided, and the only way to combat it is through fate. Rogers stated, “Faith stands in the present with the perspective of the future.” Black Lives Matter operates on this belief in fate, and insists on change in the name of progress, as Rogers explained, “they are asking you to accept the position that America is not set in stone.”
Roger’s encouraged his audience to entertain the possibility that there are aspirations unbeknownst to us that have yet to be recognized, just as there were in Delaney and Douglas and Jefferson’s times. Ultimately, Rogers conveyed through the voices of the past that the voices of the future are perfectly capable of changing their world, just as are we, the people of today.
