Omar Bennett
The US Constitution, which came into effect in 1787, was written for an agrarian slave society, and while it sought to establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility, it also protected the institution of slavery. The authors of the Constitution avoided using the words slave or slavery and instead referred to slaves as persons. Despite this, the Constitution included several provisions that protected slavery, including the Three-Fifths Clause, which 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 also required that runaway slaves be returned to their owners. It wasn't until the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865 that slavery was officially abolished in the United States, though the status of slaves remained uncertain after the Civil War.
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What You'll Learn
The Fugitive Slave Clause
The Clause gave slaveholders the right to reclaim their slaves who had escaped to another state. It stated that a "Person held to Service or Labour" (usually a slave, apprentice, or indentured servant) who fled to another state was to be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped. The Clause was unanimously approved by the Convention, despite objections from James Wilson and Roger Sherman, who argued that it would oblige the executive of the State to seize fugitive slaves at public expense.
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The Three-Fifths Compromise
The Southern politicians wanted enslaved African-Americans to be counted as 'persons' for congressional representation, while Northern politicians rejected these demands out of concern for too much Southern power, as representation in the new Congress would be based on population. The Northern states sought to make representation dependent on the size of a state's free population. Southern delegates, on the other hand, threatened to abandon the convention if enslaved individuals were not counted.
Eventually, a compromise was struck, and it was agreed that representation in the House of Representatives would be apportioned based on a state's free population plus three-fifths of its enslaved population. This gave the Southern states more power in the House of Representatives relative to the Northern states, as they were now able to send more representatives to Congress. This compromise was proposed by delegate James Wilson and seconded by Charles Pinckney.
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The Civil War and the 13th Amendment
The Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865, pitting the Union, i.e., the northern states, against the Confederacy, i.e., the southern states. The Confederacy comprised states that supported slavery and states' rights, and the Union was largely composed of states opposed to slavery.
During the war, in 1862, President Lincoln became convinced that emancipating enslaved people in the South would help the Union crush the Confederate rebellion and win the Civil War. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which came into effect on January 1, 1863, proclaiming the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion. However, the proclamation did not end slavery in the nation as it only applied to areas of the Confederacy in rebellion and not to the border states that had remained loyal to the Union.
Recognizing that the Emancipation Proclamation would have to be followed by a constitutional amendment to guarantee the abolition of slavery, Lincoln presented a plan for "gradual emancipation and deportation" of slaves. This plan envisioned three amendments to the Constitution. The first would have required the states to abolish slavery by January 1, 1900.
On April 8, 1864, the Senate passed an amendment to abolish slavery. However, the House initially did not pass the amendment. Lincoln then took an active role to ensure the amendment's passage through Congress, insisting that it be added to the Republican Party platform for the 1864 Presidential election. His efforts were successful, and the House passed the bill in January 1865 with a vote of 119–56.
On February 1, 1865, President Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures. The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865. The amendment abolished slavery in the United States, providing that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
The 13th Amendment, along with the 14th and 15th Amendments, greatly expanded the civil rights of Americans and sought to establish equality for Black Americans. The 13th Amendment was a final constitutional solution to the issue of slavery in the United States.
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The impact of Enlightenment philosophies
However, Enlightenment philosophy also provided a rationale for slavery based on a hierarchy of races. In his only published book, Jefferson shared his belief that Blacks were likely inferior to whites. This racist ideology was also reflected in the Three-Fifths Compromise, which allocated Congressional representation based on "the whole Number of free Persons" and "three-fifths of all other Persons." This clause was a compromise between Southern and Northern politicians who had differing views on whether enslaved African Americans should be counted as 'persons' for congressional representation.
The framers of the Constitution consciously avoided using the word "slave," recognizing that it would tarnish the document. However, slavery received important protections in the Constitution, such as the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and the Three-Fifths Clause, which gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. Many of the framers had moral qualms about slavery, and some, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became members of anti-slavery societies.
The controversy over slavery was temporarily settled by compromise. In exchange for a 20-year ban on restrictions on the Atlantic slave trade, southern delegates agreed to remove a clause restricting the national government's power. This compromise, along with the adoption of the Fugitive Slave Clause, led abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to burn the Constitution in 1854, calling it "a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell."
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, which took effect on January 1, 1863, proclaiming the freedom of slaves in the ten states still in rebellion. Lincoln recognized that the Emancipation Proclamation would need to be followed by a constitutional amendment to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. The 13th Amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, finally abolishing slavery in the United States.
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The role of individual states
Additionally, the Constitution prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years, allowing states like South Carolina and Georgia to continue their involvement. This protection of the slave trade was a concession made to gain the support of Southern delegates for a strong central government. However, individual states, such as Pennsylvania, took measures to make it more difficult for slaveholders to enforce slavery laws, requiring certificates of ownership and prohibiting the use of force.
The Fugitive Slave Clause, another constitutional provision, required the return of runaway slaves to their owners and further entrenched slavery. The Supreme Court's ruling in Prigg v. Pennsylvania made it easier to enforce this clause, despite Pennsylvania's efforts to challenge it. The division between free states and slave states became more pronounced as the country expanded westward, with the North generally committing to a future without slavery, while the South remained firmly entrenched in the institution.
The admission of new states into the Union, such as California as a free state in 1850, altered the balance of power in Congress and contributed to the growing sectional conflict. The violent controversy over the status of slavery in Kansas Territory highlighted the tensions between free and slave states, with Southerners seeking to protect the institution and maintain their influence in government.
In summary, individual states played a critical role in shaping the impact of slavery in the US. While some states took steps to challenge and restrict slavery, others vigorously defended it, contributing to a divided nation that ultimately erupted into the Civil War. The Constitution, through its concessions to Southern states and protection of slavery, played a significant role in shaping the role of individual states regarding this issue.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution protected the institution of slavery. It included clauses that indirectly addressed slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which 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 also required the return of runaway slaves to their owners.
No, the Constitution did not abolish slavery. However, it created a central government powerful enough to eventually abolish the institution. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1865, abolished slavery in the US.
The authors of the Constitution were aware of the immorality of slavery, but they chose to sidestep the issue to gain support from southern delegates. Many of the framers had moral qualms about slavery, and some became members of anti-slavery societies. The Constitution was written in broad, open-textured language, leaving it to future generations to interpret and adapt it.
