Is status quo ante Trump feasible?
The great mistake, rather, the original sin of Founding Fathers of USA was the continuation of slavery after independence and its recognition in the constitution. This, despite the fact that the Declaration of American War of Independence document, drafted by Jefferson, incorporated such revolutionary ideas that took all men to be created equal in the eyes of the state which the entire civilization saw for the first time. It said in the second sentence of the Declaration, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that, all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among those are Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness.' The original draft written by T Jefferson also included a sentence vehemently criticizing the British monarch: 'He (King George III) has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty, in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.' But this sentence could not be incorporated in the final declaration mainly due to strong opposition from slave owning southern states. Of course in the constitution adopted in 1787, nowhere the words 'slave' or 'slavery' were used explicitly but so as to present it bright, the words 'other persons' were used euphemistically to imply 'slaves' in three places. Slaves were degraded to three fifths of a free white man in the infamous 'Three fifth compromise', though 'Three fifth compromises' was used to count the slaves for representation. In another place, slave trade was allowed up to 1808. By virtue of another clause, fugitive slaves were to be returned to their previous owners. Moreover, slave codes of individual states remained as it was before the formation of USA and adoption of the constitution. In the Slave Codes, slave owners were not punishable by law if the slaves were killed accidentally. Otherwise they could be fined and only rarely were they brought to justice even for killing slaves. Hence, it is obvious that USA was divided between white free Americans and black slaves from the start. It could hardly be otherwise. Though it is true that compromise had to be made on the issue of slavery so as to include southern slave owning states in the framework of USA, it is equally true that the founding father of the nation George Washington himself and Thomas Jefferson were slave owners. Before his death George Washington prepared a will which stated that his slaves would be emancipated after the death of his wife Martha Washington. Jefferson had 600 slaves and his will freed only five of them. So it can be rightly said that opening words of the American constitution 'We the people' actually represented 'We the free white people' keeping half a million i.e. about 25 per cent of total population of 13 colonies of black slaves outside 'We'. The 13th amendment of the US constitution abolished slavery in January 1865 amid civil war in the true spirit of the American Declaration of Independence and Jeffersonian republicanism. One of the greatest American Presidents Abraham Lincoln had to embrace martyrdom for this. But in spite of this extremely commendable and heroic amendment of the constitution, the chasm between whites and blacks was perpetuated due to some factors. Firstly, racial segregation incorporated in 'Slave Codes' (Black codes after civil war) of colonies remained as it was before the abolition of slavery and was later constitutionally protected by Supreme Court verdict. Secondly, hardly had the civil war come to an end, that there sprang up deadly, notorious and infamous racial hate crime terrorist group Ku Klux Klan (KKK) formed initially in December 1865 by some extremely white supremacist Confederate veterans. Its members indiscriminately killed black men, raped their women, torched their houses and also killed their white supporters. In the 20th century, two more KKK groups sprang up and at a point of time their membership rose over 5 million across the country and 6 million blacks chose to immigrate to the north. Thirdly, extreme leniency shown by the northern leaders to the confederate leaders and military personnel so as to heal from the wounds led to no trial of any of them for treason. They created new state 'Confederate States of America (CSA), established new capital, had a new flag, raised army and attacked federal forces. Moreover, so many statues and monuments of confederate leaders and military officers honouring and glorifying them and at the same time symbolizing white supremacy and the cause of CSA began to be erected in the southern states after civil war. USA has paid homage and has shown honour by naming some military bases and naval ships after CSA military officers who fought against USA during civil war. There are 12 statues of confederate leaders in the Capitol Hill in Washington including that of CSA Vice President Alexander Stephens who in his 'Cornerstone Speech' in 1861 said '... the negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery, subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.' He also said that this position on Negros is in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator. The writer is a retired professor  of Economics, University  of Rajshahi        On January 31, Fareed Zakaria hosted a CNN special report on ' Divided States of America: What is tearing us apart?' in the context of harrowing, bizarre, unprecedented and unthinkable incidents in the Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 during the process of certification of 2020 US presidential election results. History will probably answer in the negative.The great mistake, rather, the original sin of Founding Fathers of USA was the continuation of slavery after independence and its recognition in the constitution. This, despite the fact that the Declaration of American War of Independence document, drafted by Jefferson, incorporated such revolutionary ideas that took all men to be created equal in the eyes of the state which the entire civilization saw for the first time. It said in the second sentence of the Declaration, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that, all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among those are Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness. 'The original draft written by T Jefferson also included a sentence vehemently criticizing the British monarch: 'He (King George III) has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty, in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. 'But this sentence could not be incorporated in the final declaration mainly due to strong opposition from slave owning southern states. Of course in the constitution adopted in 1787, nowhere the words 'slave' or 'slavery' were used explicitly but so as to present it bright, the words 'other persons' were used euphemistically to imply 'slaves' in three places. Slaves were degraded to three fifths of a free white man in the infamous 'Three fifth compromise', though 'Three fifth compromises' was used to count the slaves for representation.In another place, slave trade was allowed up to 1808. By virtue of another clause, fugitive slaves were to be returned to their previous owners. Moreover, slave codes of individual states remained as it was before the formation of USA and adoption of the constitution. In the Slave Codes, slave owners were not punishable by law if the slaves were killed accidentally. Otherwise they could be fined and only rarely were they brought to justice even for killing slaves.Hence, it is obvious that USA was divided between white free Americans and black slaves from the start. It could hardly be otherwise. Though it is true that compromise had to be made on the issue of slavery so as to include southern slave owning states in the framework of USA, it is equally true that the founding father of the nation George Washington himself and Thomas Jefferson were slave owners.Before his death George Washington prepared a will which stated that his slaves would be emancipated after the death of his wife Martha Washington. Jefferson had 600 slaves and his will freed only five of them. So it can be rightly said that opening words of the American constitution 'We the people' actually represented 'We the free white people' keeping half a million i.e. about 25 per cent of total population of 13 colonies of black slaves outside 'We'.The 13th amendment of the US constitution abolished slavery in January 1865 amid civil war in the true spirit of the American Declaration of Independence and Jeffersonian republicanism. One of the greatest American Presidents Abraham Lincoln had to embrace martyrdom for this. But in spite of this extremely commendable and heroic amendment of the constitution, the chasm between whites and blacks was perpetuated due to some factors.Firstly, racial segregation incorporated in 'Slave Codes' (Black codes after civil war) of colonies remained as it was before the abolition of slavery and was later constitutionally protected by Supreme Court verdict.Secondly, hardly had the civil war come to an end, that there sprang up deadly, notorious and infamous racial hate crime terrorist group Ku Klux Klan (KKK) formed initially in December 1865 by some extremely white supremacist Confederate veterans. Its members indiscriminately killed black men, raped their women, torched their houses and also killed their white supporters. In the 20th century, two more KKK groups sprang up and at a point of time their membership rose over 5 million across the country and 6 million blacks chose to immigrate to the north.Thirdly, extreme leniency shown by the northern leaders to the confederate leaders and military personnel so as to heal from the wounds led to no trial of any of them for treason. They created new state 'Confederate States of America (CSA), established new capital, had a new flag, raised army and attacked federal forces. Moreover, so many statues and monuments of confederate leaders and military officers honouring and glorifying them and at the same time symbolizing white supremacy and the cause of CSA began to be erected in the southern states after civil war.USA has paid homage and has shown honour by naming some military bases and naval ships after CSA military officers who fought against USA during civil war. There are 12 statues of confederate leaders in the Capitol Hill in Washington including that of CSA Vice President Alexander Stephens who in his 'Cornerstone Speech' in 1861 said '... the negro is not equal to the white man, that slavery, subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.' He also said that this position on Negros is in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator.The writer is a retired professorof Economics, Universityof Rajshahi