Crazy Horse:
The majority of the Southern delegates who signed the Constitution were slave owners! Others were wealthy merchants and statesmen. History also suggests that some of our Founding Fathers owned slaves. They were educated and scholarly men who were given a difficult task of creating a government. They needed to ratify a Constitution; therefore the debate as to whether slaves were men or property had to wait!
Article I, Section. 2 [Slaves count as 3/5 persons]
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons [i.e., slaves].
The Constitution that the delegates proposed included several provisions that explicitly recognized and protected slavery. Without these provisions, southern delegates would not support the new Constitutionand without the southern states on board, the Constitution had no chance of being ratified.
Provisions allowed southern states to count slaves as 3/5 persons for purposes of apportionment in Congress (even though the slaves could not, of course, vote), expressly denied to Congress the power to prohibit importation of new slaves until 1808, and prevented free states from enacting laws protecting fugitive slaves.
http://wiseconservatism.com/2011/01/06/35th-clause-in-the-constitution-what-is-it-and-why-was-it-put-in/ The Founding Fathers wanted to create a new government with a fair and equal form of representation therefore they established a Congress consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Since most of the colonies had this type of state government they agree with that type of Congress. Therefore there was some room for compromise.
The term Republic is given to our representative government. But the power of the government rests in the governed We have the privilege and the right to vote. Therefore; many Americans consider themselves as members of a Democracy because we have the right to vote. One man; one vote
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
We must also understand that you are either a lose constructionist or a strict constructionist. I strongly believe that the Constitution is a flexible living document that has to grow and adapt to the needs of a growing multi-cultural diversified society. See the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
You mentioned that the Founding Fathers originally implemented the 2nd Amendment into the Constitution. I beg to differ! The Constitution could not be ratified by the colonies because they were fearful that the government would be too powerful an intrusive upon individual rights therefore the Second Amendment was a compromise to meet the colonies standards for ratification.
During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution. They demanded a "bill of rights" that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens.
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights.html I believe that the 10th Amendment which some called Popular Sovereignty allowed a state to self-govern itself just as long as it didnt encroach upon the jurisdiction of the Federal government or violate the Constitution itself. Although you may consider the 2nd Amendment to the included de facto into the original Constitution it was inserted into the Bill of Rights after the Constitution was written and debated upon by the delegates and the people. The original Constitution only gave a state the right to implement its own voting and election policies. History has proven that that was a bad idea! (Voters Rights Act, Voter Suppression, Bush vs. Gore 2000)
See Section. 4.
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of choosing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.