Ben Carson Was Right About Slaves As Immigrants

The thing is, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were in daily correspondence, and Jefferson was a heavy influence not only on the writing of the Constitution, but on the political opinions of people like James Madison during the convention. According to John Taylor's 1823 "New Views of the Constitution of the United States," most of the founders entered the convention as nationalists (big government supporters), but the document became the ultimate owner's manual for limited government. Later, after the criticisms, Ben Carson said, regarding the media's attacks on him about his Jefferson comment, "People spend too much time looking at little words and phrases without looking at the implications or the big picture." In short, Carson was right, just not the way the liberal left would be able to admit. Dr. Carson is under assault, again, for his use of language that goes beyond the comprehension of the liberal left. Now, as the Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Ben Carson made a statement in his first speech in that role that compared slavery to immigration in the United States. His liberal left opposition again went into "gotcha" mode, saying Carson's words were inaccurate and a misleading reading of American history.

Carson was talking about the work ethic and dreams of immigrants who came to the United States through Ellis Island. "There were other immigrants who came here on the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less," Carson said as he walked across a stage holding a microphone. I understand the jumping to conclusions. Immigration, as a term, brings to mind "voluntary" migration to the country in which the immigrant desires to live in. Slavery was involuntary servitude. Ben Carson, however, doesn't follow trends of language as much as the actual definitions of language.

• The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "immigrant" as meaning: a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.
• Dictionary.com: a person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence.
• Oxford Dictionary: A person who comes to live permanently in a foreign country.
• Cambridge Dictionary: a person who has come into a foreign country in order to live there.
• MacMillan Dictionary: someone who comes to live in a country from another country.
• And finally, the 1828 Webster's Dictionary: A person that removes into a country for the purpose of permanent residence.

While we assume the meaning of the word immigrant means "voluntary" migration from one country to another, the reality is, the definition provided to us by dictionaries does not indicate whether or not that movement is considered voluntary, or involuntary, therefore, both must be assumed to be true.