Eleanor Finch
The original United States Constitution did not contain the words slave or slavery within its text, despite the fact that slavery was a major component of the economy and society in the United States at the time of its drafting in 1787. The Constitution did, however, deal directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution elsewhere in the document. The omission of the words slave and slavery from the Constitution has been attributed to the framers' conflicted stance on slavery and their desire to avoid moral confrontation while preserving the institution. The Constitution included several clauses related to slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, the Fugitive Slave Clause, and the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Does the US Constitution explicitly use the word "slave"? | No |
| Does the US Constitution use the word "slavery"? | No |
| Does the US Constitution refer to slaves as "persons" ? | Yes |
| Does the US Constitution deal directly with American slavery? | Yes |
| Does the US Constitution protect the institution of slavery? | Yes |
| Does the US Constitution refer to slavery in its provisions? | Yes |
| Does the US Constitution mention the number of clauses related to slavery? | Yes, four to five |
| Does the US Constitution mention the number of delegates who owned slaves? | Yes, about 25 out of 55 |
| Does the US Constitution mention the number of slaves in the Southern states? | Yes, around a third |
| Does the US Constitution mention the year when the federal government could ban the slave trade? | Yes, 1808 |
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What You'll Learn
- The Constitution avoided using the words slave and slavery
- The Three-Fifths Clause counted slaves as three-fifths of a person
- The Fugitive Slave Clause required the return of runaway slaves
- The Slave Trade Clause prevented the federal government from limiting the importation of slaves
- The Constitution implicitly protected slavery
The Constitution avoided using the words slave and slavery
The Constitution of the United States of America, drafted in 1787, did not use the words "slave" and "slavery" in its provisions, despite the fact that slavery was a major component of the economy and society at the time. The framers of the Constitution consciously avoided using these terms, recognising that they would sully the document.
The Constitution included several clauses that indirectly addressed slavery and the slave trade, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, the fugitive slave clause, and the slave insurrections. The Three-Fifths Clause, also known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, provided that apportionment of representatives would be based on the population of free persons, excluding "Indians not taxed" and "three-fifths of all other persons." These "other persons" referred to the African slaves who made up a significant portion of the Southern states' population.
The framers' decision to avoid using the words "slave" and "slavery" in the Constitution may have been due to embarrassment over the institution of slavery, or a desire to avoid suggesting that slavery was recognised under federal law. Some historians argue that the framers wanted to convey that slavery existed only as a result of state laws. Additionally, many of the framers harboured moral qualms about slavery, with some becoming members of anti-slavery societies.
Despite the absence of the words "slave" and "slavery," the Constitution provided important protections for slavery. The Three-Fifths Clause, for example, gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. The Fugitive Slave Clause, found in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, required the return of runaway slaves to their owners.
In conclusion, while the Constitution avoided using the words "slave" and "slavery," it included several provisions that addressed the institution of slavery and provided protections for it. The framers' decision to avoid direct references to slavery may have been due to moral qualms, a desire to avoid sullying the document, or a recognition that slavery was a contentious issue that could lead to future conflict.
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The Three-Fifths Clause counted slaves as three-fifths of a person
The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not use the word "slave" or "slavery" in its provisions. The drafters consciously avoided the words, perhaps because they were embarrassed or did not want to suggest that slavery was recognised under federal law. Instead, they referred to slaves as "persons".
One of the clauses related to slavery was the Three-Fifths Clause, also known as the Three-Fifths Compromise. This clause counted three-fifths of each state's slave population towards that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives. This gave the Southern states more power in the House relative to the Northern states. It also gave slaveholders enlarged powers in Southern legislatures.
The proposal to count slaves by a three-fifths ratio was first presented on June 11 and was agreed to by nine states to two with only a brief debate. It was then debated at length between July 9 and 13 and was initially voted down by the members present at the Convention six to four. A few Southern delegates then proposed full representation for their slave population, but most states voted no. Recognising that a compromise was needed, the ratio of three-fifths was brought back, and eight states agreed to it, with two voting against.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was a compromise between Northern and Southern states at the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. The Southern states wanted their entire population, including slaves, to be counted to determine the number of Representatives they could send to Congress. The Free States, on the other hand, wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states since those slaves had no voting rights. The compromise counted three-fifths of each state's slave population towards that state's total population for representation purposes. This reduced the representation of the slave states relative to the original proposals but improved it over the Northern position.
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The Fugitive Slave Clause required the return of runaway slaves
The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not explicitly use the word "slave". The word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution, with the framers consciously avoiding the word, recognising that it would sully the document. Instead, the document refers to slaves as "persons".
However, the Constitution did include the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. This clause, also known as Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, states:
> "No person held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due."
The Fugitive Slave Clause was included in the Constitution to address the concerns of Southern politicians, who worried that the Northern states, which had abolished slavery, would become safe havens for runaway slaves. The clause was designed to ensure that ""no person held to service or labour" would be released from bondage if they escaped to a free state.
The Fugitive Slave Clause provided a legal basis for the Fugitive Slave Acts, passed in 1793 and 1850, which were federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway enslaved people within the United States. These acts authorised local governments and slave owners' agents to seize and return escapees to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight.
The Fugitive Slave Acts were highly controversial and sparked widespread resistance, particularly in the North, where many considered the laws to be tantamount to legalised kidnapping. Despite this resistance, the Fugitive Slave Clause remained in the Constitution, and the acts were only formally repealed in June 1864, during the American Civil War.
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The Slave Trade Clause prevented the federal government from limiting the importation of slaves
The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not use the word "slave" or explicitly mention slavery in its provisions. This was likely because the framers of the Constitution recognised that the word "slave" would sully the document and wanted to avoid the moral stain of slavery on the document. They also believed that slavery was morally wrong and would eventually die out. However, the Constitution did contain clauses that indirectly addressed slavery and protected the institution. One such clause was the Slave Trade Clause, also known as the Importation of Persons Clause, which prevented the federal government from limiting the importation of "persons" into states that allowed it.
The Slave Trade Clause, or Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1 of the Constitution, prohibited the federal government from restricting the importation of "persons" into states that permitted it until 1808, twenty years after the Constitution took effect. The word "persons" in this clause was understood to refer primarily to enslaved African persons. This clause was a compromise between the Southern states, where slavery was crucial to the economy, and states that had abolished or contemplated abolishing slavery. It reflected the tension between the practice of slavery and the Declaration of Independence's assertion that "all men are created equal."
The Slave Trade Clause was not without controversy, and it sowed the seeds for future conflict. Delegates at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 debated the issue of slavery, with some arguing for federal regulation of the slave trade and others threatening to secede from the Union if it was regulated. The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. As a result, the Slave Trade Clause allowed slavery to continue and expand in the United States for two decades before federal legislation could prohibit the importation of slaves.
The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, passed by Congress in 1807, took effect on January 1, 1808, and made the importation of slaves into the United States a federal crime. This act was promoted by President Thomas Jefferson and reflected the growing trend towards abolishing the international slave trade. However, slavery and the domestic trade in slaves persisted within the United States even after the Slave Trade Clause became constitutionally irrelevant. The Three-Fifths Clause in the Constitution, which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation purposes, also continued to have an impact on the country's politics and society.
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The Constitution implicitly protected slavery
The US Constitution did not contain the words "slave" or "slavery" within its text. However, it dealt directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and implicitly protected the institution in others. The framers of the Constitution consciously avoided the word, recognising that it would sully the document. They instead referred to slaves as "'persons' held to service or labour".
The Three-Fifths Clause in Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3, provided that apportionment of representatives would be based on the population of free persons, excluding "Indians not taxed" and ""three-fifths of all other persons". Those "other persons" were the African slaves who made up around a third of the population of the Southern states at that time. The Three-Fifths Clause gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College.
The Fugitive Slave Clause in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. This clause provided that:
> no person held to service or labour in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labour may be due.
The framers' conflicted stance towards slavery led them to deliberately avoid using direct language about the institution in the Constitution. While many personally opposed slavery on moral grounds, they prioritised political unity over abolition, resulting in key compromises like the Three-Fifths Clause and the Fugitive Slave Clause that protected slaveholding interests.
The Constitution also implicitly protected slavery by prohibiting federal interference with the international slave trade for at least twenty years (Article I, Section 9) in the Importation of Persons Clause. This clause prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of "persons" where existing state governments saw fit to allow it, until 20 years after the Constitution took effect.
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Frequently asked questions
No, the US Constitution did not use the word "slave" or slavery in its text.
The framers of the Constitution avoided using the word "slave" because they believed slavery was morally wrong and did not want the document to be associated with it. They also wanted to avoid moral confrontation and instead prioritised political unity.
The Constitution used euphemisms like "'persons held to service or labour'" and "three-fifths of all other persons".
The Constitution implicitly protected slavery through clauses like the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-Fifths Clause, which ensured slavery remained a national issue.
