The Founders Called the Draft by Its Real Name: Slavery

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]The constitutional accurate and original name, the word that the founding fathers themselves used, is slavery. This is going to seem like a strange place to begin, but I want to go to the 13th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, which contains exactly 27 words in its first section.

[00:00:15]Listen carefully, I'm going to read them to you directly.

[00:00:18]Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

[00:00:30]27 words ratified in 1865, the blood of 600,000 Americans paid for those words.

[00:00:38]Now, notice what's not there. I'm going to read the exception to you.

[00:00:42]It says, "Except as a punishment for a crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted."

[00:00:48]Exception's clear, it's limited, and there are things that are missing that some people assume are there.

[00:00:54]There's no exception for war.

[00:00:56]There is no national security exception.

[00:00:59]There is no if recruiting numbers are down exception.

[00:01:03]And yet the federal government still claims the power to compel a young man who's committed no crime, who's been duly convicted of nothing, he just turned 18, they're going to force him to leave his home, leave his family, leave his job, put on a uniform, pick up a weapon, and risk his life in a war that he didn't vote for, that his representatives didn't vote for, and that he may not believe in.