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White Privileg e an d Blac k Despai r \f 9 1 In sum , th e revolutio n tha t occurre d i n th e Unite d State s betwee n 177 6 and 179 1 did not liberate blacks in the same way that it did many whites. Most black s remaine d enslave d or , i f free , circumscribe d b y stat e law s that limite d and , i n som e cases , prohibite d thei r exercis e o f basi c civi l rights. LOSING SECOND-CLASS CITIZENSHI P After th e ratificatio n o f th e Constitutio n i n 1791 , overt , government sponsored or -sanctioned racial discrimination was the rule for most blacks living i n th e Unite d States . Then , i n th e mid-1960s , th e civi l right s movement force d th e federa l governmen t t o addres s institutionalize d racism an d enac t antidiscriminatio n laws . Unfortunately, th e federa l gov ernment 's commitmen t t o enforc e thos e law s was wea k an d short-lived . Even though governmental discriminatio n i s now illegal, functional whit e supremacy has not been eliminated , an d racial caste is worsening. If we could fast-forward fro m th e late eighteenth t o the mid-twentiet h century, we woul d se e dozen s o f events demonstratin g stat e an d federa l governmental advancemen t o f whit e supremac y an d blac k cast e tha t explain wh y racia l cast e i s s o pervasiv e i n Americ a today . Consider , fo r example, the expansion of slavery across the western frontier . Contrar y to what th e champions o f slavery at the Constitutiona l Conventio n asserte d about it s demise, slaver y did no t di e out . When Congres s prohibite d th e importation o f slaves in 1808 , the practic e went undergroun d unti l i t was supplanted b y slave breeding and a vigorous domestic slave trade. Blacks were bre d lik e cattle . S o eve n i n th e absenc e o f lega l importation , th e slave population swelle d t o nearly four millio n by 1865. Even amon g thos e white s wh o oppose d slavery , fe w envisione d th e United State s a s a plac e wher e black s an d white s coul d liv e togethe r with equal rights. Instead, some abolitionists—including member s of the American Colonizatio n Societ y an d th e American Anti-Slaver y Society — tried t o coloniz e black s outsid e th e Unite d States . Furthermore , whe n slavery ended, fe w whites embrace d ex-slave s as their equals; some eve n took i t upo n themselve s t o remov e black s fro m thei r towns . Afte r th e Civil Wa r an d durin g Reconstruction , Congres s appeare d read y t o en d white supremac y policies . Bu t th e politica l branche s o f th e federa l gov ernment wer e divided , an d th e Suprem e Cour t interprete d th e thre e Civil War amendments narrowly , leaving it to the state s to determine th e civil right s o f forme r slaves . Th e resul t wa s anothe r centur y o f official , 92 \f Whit e Privileg e an d Blac k Despai r government-sponsored policie s o f whit e supremac y an d judiciall y ap proved separat e and unequal rights for blacks. One o f th e mor e importan t nationa l debate s o f th e earl y nineteent h century took place between thos e who wanted slaver y to expand int o th e new state s an d territorie s an d thos e wh o di d not . Th e contes t include d slave traders , slav e breeders , an d slav e owner s wh o wished t o hir e thei r slaves ou t t o thir d parties , al l o f who m coul d ear n additiona l wealt h b y supplying slave s...

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