1/2 AND 1/2

BRAGGING IT'S AMERICAN-MADE OR MADE-IN-AMERICA EXPRESSES :
A. PATRIOTISM OR B. XENOPHOBIA? DEPENDS WHETHER THE CUP IS ½ FULL OF FLAG-WAVING PRIDE OR ½ EMPTY WITH ANTIPATHY FOR FOREIGN INTRUSIONS. WELCOME TO OUR TWO AMERICAS. SO WHAT'S NEW? THE TOP FIVE WHO WROTE THE 1ST DRAFT OF OUR CONSTITUTION - GORHAM, ELLSWORTH, WILSON, RANDOLPH AND RUTLEDGE - WERE NO COMMON MEN. THEIR CUPS WERE ½ FULL, MEANING THEY ENJOYED LIFE AS ELITES. MOST SETTLERS IN OUR NEW LAND, HOWEVER, KNEW THEIR PROSPECTS IN SOCIETY WERE LIKE A ½ EMPTY CUP. WOMEN, THE LAND POOR, THE UNEDUCATED AND THE SLAVES COULD NOT HAVE APPLIED OR BEEN SELECTED TO REPRESENT AMERICA AT THE SUMMER CONVENTION IN 1787.

SOME OF THE IDEAS OF OUR EARLY STATE REPRESENTATIVES WERE ENDOGAMOUS, HELD IN COMMON, BUT OTHERS, EXOGAMOUS, FORMED BY LOOKING OUTWARD TO FOREIGN THINKERS. THE PREAMBLE WRITTEN BY GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, A SUCCINCT MASTERPIECE. WHAT A DOCUMENT, AMERICA’S CONSTITUTION! IT BLENDED FREEDOM WITH RESTRAINT, A DEEP-SEATED PATRIOTIC FERVOR FOR THE FUTURE OF A NEW REPUBLIC WITH A XENOPHOBIA. THAT WOULD PROTECT US AGAINST FOREIGN INTERVENTION IN OUR AFFAIRS. THE CUP WAS PASSED AND SIPPED (THE CONSTITUTION FIRST SIGNED) BY EACH OF THE 12 ORIGINAL COLONIES. IN ADDITION, A BILL OF RIGHTS WAS DRAFTED BY 2 OTHER POLITICIANS, DIVERGENT IN THEIR BELIEFS - GEORGE MASON AND ELBRIDGE GERRY. HOWEVER, A TINY DROP OF POISON - SLAVERY - WAS IMMIXED, WHICH AFFECTED BOTH NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN CITIZENS FOR YEARS TO COME. IN THE CIVIL WAR, SLAVERY, AMERICAN-MADE AND MADE-IN-AMERICA WAS CONTESTED. THE NORTH SAW THE 'PECULIAR INSTITUTION NEGATIVELY (ON MORAL GROUNDS) LIKE A ½ EMPTY CUP; THE SOUTH SAW IT POSITIVELY (ON ECONOMIC GROUNDS) LIKE A CUP ½ FULL. THE BLOOD OF 600,000 MEN WAS DRAINED FROM THAT CUP, BEFORE THE WAR ENDED.

TWO AMERICAS MEANS TWO SIDES CONTENDING ON EACH ISSUE.