Jonah Patel
The writers of the US Constitution, also known as the Founding Fathers, had differing views on slavery. While some owned slaves themselves, others were members of anti-slavery societies. Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about 25 owned slaves, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin. The Constitution included several clauses related to slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, and the fugitive slave clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. The writers avoided using the words slave or slavery in the Constitution, recognizing that it would sully the document. Despite the inclusion of these clauses, the Constitution did not explicitly defend the morality of slavery, and many of the Founding Fathers expressed a wish to see the institution gradually abolished.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of delegates to the Constitutional Convention who owned slaves | 25 of 55 |
| Number of delegates who were enslavers and the total number of slaves they held | 17 of 55, holding about 1,400 enslaved people |
| Number of colonies that were slave-owning | 6 of 13 |
| Number of first five presidents of the United States who were slave owners | 4 |
| Number of slaves living on George Washington's plantation at the time of his death | 318 |
| Number of slaves living on Thomas Jefferson's plantation at any given time | 130 |
| Number of slaves owned by Benjamin Franklin | 2 |
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What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Compromise
At the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention, delegates from the Northern and Southern states debated the inclusion of slaves in a state's total population. This count would determine the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the number of electoral votes for each state, and the amount of money states would pay in taxes. The Three-Fifths Compromise was the agreement reached to resolve this issue.
The Southern slaveholding states wanted their entire population to be considered when determining the number of Representatives they could elect and send to Congress. In contrast, the Free States of the North wanted to exclude slaves from the population count, as they had no voting rights. The Three-Fifths Compromise was a concession to the Southern states, allowing them to count three-fifths of their slave population toward their 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 and resulted in disproportionate representation for the slave states. It also gave slaveholders enlarged powers in Southern legislatures.
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Fugitive slave clause
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. It required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. The clause was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and approved unanimously without debate. It 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 clause was enforced by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, with strengthened provisions introduced as part of the Compromise of 1850. The Supreme Court's interpretation of the Fugitive Slave Clause gave the owner of an enslaved person the right to seize and repossess them in another state.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery except as a punishment for criminal acts, has made the Fugitive Slave Clause mostly irrelevant.
Regarding the writers of the Constitution, it is estimated that about 25 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention owned slaves, including some very prominent Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and outspoken opponent of slavery, was a slave-holding writer of the Constitution, with approximately 130 slaves living on his Montebello plantation. George Washington, America's first president, was another slave-holding delegate from Virginia, with 318 slaves living on his Mount Vernon plantation at the time of his death in 1799. Benjamin Franklin, who owned two personal slaves, became a staunch abolitionist and the president of an abolitionist society later in life, granting his slaves their freedom. James Madison, another slave owner, struggled with the decision of whether or not to free his slaves upon his death, ultimately choosing not to due to the potential hardship it would cause his wife, Dolley.
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Ban on Congress ending the slave trade for 20 years
The writers of the US Constitution included slave owners among their ranks. Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about 25 owned slaves, including some very prominent Founding Fathers. These included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin.
The Constitution prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for 20 years. This was a compromise, as the southern delegates agreed to remove a clause restricting the national government's power to enact laws requiring goods to be shipped on American vessels. This benefited northeastern shipbuilders and sailors. The same day this agreement was reached, the convention also adopted the fugitive slave clause, requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners.
The delegates considered the report of the Committee of Eleven, which had created a compromise over the issues of the slave trade and international commerce. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (SC), seconded by Gorham (MA), moved to alter the compromise, which let Congress ban the slave trade in 1800. He wanted to change the year to 1808. Over Madison's objection, the motion passed 7-4, with New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia opposed.
The Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. The Constitution also gave the federal government the power to put down domestic rebellions, including slave insurrections.
The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were the price for the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. They were convinced that if the Constitution restricted the slave trade, South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union. However, by sidestepping the slavery issue, the framers left the seeds for future conflict.
On March 2, 1807, the US Congress passed an act to "prohibit the importation of slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction of the United States... from any foreign kingdom, place, or country." This went into effect at the start of the following year.
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Slave-owning Founding Fathers
The issue of slavery proved challenging for the Founding Fathers, who had been born into a slaveholding society where the morality of owning slaves was rarely questioned. Six of the original 13 colonies were slave-owning: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about 25 owned slaves, including some very prominent Founding Fathers.
George Washington, America's first president, was one of the slave-holding delegates from Virginia. He owned hundreds of slaves, and by the time of his death in 1799, there were 318 slaves living on his Mount Vernon plantation. Washington's ideas on the practice of slavery evolved over time. As a young man, he saw slave ownership as a matter of course in the ownership of a large plantation. However, he later came to believe that slavery should be abolished in small increments. In his will, he left directions for about a third of his slaves to be freed, while the rest belonged to a family estate that required them to be passed to other family members.
Thomas Jefferson, a founding father and outspoken opponent of slavery, was another slave-holding writer of the Constitution. Approximately 130 slaves lived on his Montebello plantation at any given time. Benjamin Franklin, another writer of the Constitution, owned two personal slaves named George and King. Over time, Franklin's views shifted, and he became a staunch abolitionist, freeing both his slaves long before his death in 1790.
James Madison, another Founding Father, also struggled with the decision of whether or not to free his slaves upon his death. He believed that emancipation could not happen all at once and that the two races could not coexist peacefully afterward. Thus, he decided not to free his slaves to avoid causing hardship to his wife, Dolley. However, Madison's will stipulated that none of his slaves should be sold without their consent, and he left money and land to the American Colonization Society, an organization dedicated to sending free blacks back to Africa.
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The word slave does not appear in the Constitution
The writers of the US Constitution included some of America's most prominent Founding Fathers, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin. At the time of the Constitutional Convention, six of the original thirteen colonies were slave-owning: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Of the 55 delegates to the convention, about 25 owned slaves, including Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin.
The word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution. The framers consciously avoided the word, recognizing that it would sully the document. They believed that slavery was morally wrong and would die out, and they did not want that permanent moral stain on the document. Instead, the Constitution obliquely referred to slavery and the slave trade through four clauses: the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, the fugitive slave clause, and the slave insurrection clause.
The Three-Fifths Clause counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, giving the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. The fugitive slave clause required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and the slave insurrection clause gave the federal government the power to put down domestic rebellions, including slave revolts. The fourth clause prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years.
While the Constitution did not directly address slavery, it nevertheless provided important protections for the institution. The framers made these concessions on slavery to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. They were convinced that if the Constitution restricted the slave trade, the slave-owning states would refuse to join the Union. By sidestepping the issue, the framers laid the groundwork for future conflict.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, some of the writers of the US Constitution did own slaves. Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about 25 owned slaves, including some very prominent Founding Fathers.
Some of the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution and owned slaves were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin.
Yes, some Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution did not own slaves. Alexander Hamilton, for example, was born in a slave colony in the British West Indies but did not own slaves himself.
The Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution had varying views on slavery. Many of them harbored moral qualms about the practice. Some, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became members of anti-slavery societies. Despite expressing a desire to see the institution gradually abolished, none of the Founding Fathers, except George Washington, freed their slaves in their will.
While the US Constitution never used the words "slave" or "slavery", it included several clauses that indirectly addressed the issue. These included the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, the fugitive slave clause, and the slave insurrection clause.
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