The Constitution: A Slave's Perspective

The US Constitution was a document for mainly white men, with almost half of the 55 delegates at the convention owning slaves. The Constitution never used the words slave or slavery because the Framers were embarrassed by the institution and believed it would die out. They avoided the words and referred to slaves as persons. The Constitution included four clauses that addressed slavery and the slave trade without using those terms: 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 Framers believed that concessions on slavery were necessary for support from the southern delegates, and that without these, the Constitution would not have passed.

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The Three-Fifths Compromise

The delegates from the Northern and Southern states disagreed on how to determine population. Delegates from the Northern states sought to make representation dependent on the size of a state's free population, while Southern delegates threatened to abandon the convention if enslaved individuals were not counted. Eventually, the framers agreed on a compromise that called for representation in the House of Representatives to be apportioned based on a state's free population plus three-fifths of its enslaved population.

This agreement gave the Southern states more power in the House relative to the Northern states. It also gave slaveholding states enlarged powers in Southern legislatures. This was an issue in the secession of West Virginia from Virginia in 1863. The Three-Fifths Compromise was part of Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution.

While some scholars argue that the Three-Fifths Compromise was not intended to end slavery, others contend that it limited the number of representatives in slave-holding states and was a step towards ending slavery. The compromise was superseded by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, which explicitly repealed it.

Fugitive slave clause

The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, was a provision in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution. It was introduced without dissent at the Constitutional Convention by Pierce Butler and Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, notably without mentioning the words "slave" or "slavery". The clause required that a "Person held to Service or Labour" who escapes to another state must be returned to their master in the state from which they fled. This gave slaveholders the legal right to reclaim runaway slaves from other states, and required those states to comply and return the fugitives.

The Fugitive Slave Clause was a compromise between free states and slave states, designed to balance their competing interests. It was enacted to address the concerns of Southern politicians that newly established free states would become safe havens for runaway slaves. The clause was agreed upon during a time when slavery was a way of life in the American South, while many Northern states had already outlawed slavery.

The Fugitive Slave Clause formed the basis for the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, which clarified the processes by which slaveholders could reclaim their "property". The Act of 1793 was met with fierce criticism, particularly in the North, where it was seen as legalised kidnapping and led to the formation of clandestine resistance groups to aid runaway slaves. The Act of 1850 expanded the number of federal officials empowered to act in fugitive-slave cases, and increased the likelihood of capture for runaway slaves.

The Fugitive Slave Clause and the Fugitive Slave Acts were rendered unenforceable by the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which abolished slavery except as punishment for criminal acts.

The Constitution's authors

The authors of the US Constitution were the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Of these, about 25 owned slaves. Many of the framers had moral qualms about slavery, and some, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became members of anti-slavery societies. Franklin, for instance, spoke frequently about the need for abolition and helped start the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. However, he feared that the practice was so intertwined in society that it couldn't be banned outright. Similarly, Gouverneur Morris delivered a passionate speech during the Constitutional Convention, calling slavery a "nefarious institution" and a "curse of heaven on the States where it prevailed". Luther Martin of Maryland, a slaveholder, said that the slave trade should be subject to federal regulation since the entire nation would be responsible for suppressing slave revolts. He also considered the slave trade contrary to America's republican ideals, stating that it was "inconsistent with the principles of the Revolution".

Despite the moral objections of many of its authors, the Constitution did not abolish slavery. Instead, it included the Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for purposes of representation. This gave the Southern states, where slavery was practised, more power in Congress. The Constitution also included the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and the Importation Clause, which stated that Congress could not prohibit the international slave trade until 1808. These clauses were included to ensure the support of the Southern states for the Constitution. The authors of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of Southern delegates for a strong central government.

The absence of any explicit mention of slavery in the Constitution has been interpreted in different ways. Some, like abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, have argued that the Constitution was a "covenant with death and an agreement with Hell", suggesting that it implicitly supported slavery. Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, similarly described the Constitution as "defective from the start". On the other hand, Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass defended the Constitution as a "glorious liberty document", believing it supported anti-slavery principles. Abraham Lincoln also concurred with this interpretation, and his Emancipation Proclamation and support for the Thirteenth Amendment showed his commitment to constitutionalism and prudence in dealing with slavery.

While the Constitution did not immediately abolish slavery, it created a central government that eventually had the power to do so. The Thirteenth Amendment, passed at the end of the Civil War, abolished slavery in the United States forever. Thus, despite the compromises made by its authors, the Constitution laid the foundation for the eventual eradication of slavery.

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Abolitionist views

The US Constitution, which came into effect in 1787, was a document that, while proclaiming "justice" and "domestic tranquility", failed to address the vital distinction between person and property, ultimately protecting the institution of slavery. The authors of the Constitution consciously avoided using the words "slavery" and "slave", recognising that it would sully the document.

The Constitution included several provisions that gave power to slaveholders and protected slavery. The Three-Fifths Compromise, for instance, counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, giving the South extra representation in the House of Representatives. The Fugitive Slave Clause required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. The Slave Trade Clause prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years.

Many abolitionists viewed the Constitution as a pro-slavery document. Radical abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison called it a "covenant with death and an agreement with Hell", and burned a copy of it in 1854. Black abolitionist Frederick Douglass initially agreed with Garrison but later changed his mind, defending the idea that the Constitution was anti-slavery. He called it a "glorious liberty document" that supported anti-slavery principles. Abraham Lincoln also concurred with this view, and his actions as president, such as issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and passing the Thirteenth Amendment, were influenced by his interpretation of the Constitution.

The ambiguity of the Constitution regarding slavery was a result of the compromise between the Northern and Southern states, which was necessary for the ratification of the Constitution and the formation of the Union. The Southern states wanted to protect slavery, while the Northern states were against it but feared losing the support of the Southern states if they pushed for abolition. This compromise, however, was unsustainable and laid the seeds for future conflict, including the Civil War.

The Confederate Constitution

One key difference was the use of the word "slaves". The Confederate Constitution included provisions that prohibited any Confederate state from making slavery illegal and ensured that slaveowners could travel between Confederate states with their slaves. It also accounted for enslaved people as three-fifths of a state's population and required that any new territory acquired by the Confederacy allow slavery.

While some may argue that the Civil War was not fought to preserve slavery, historians overwhelmingly agree that secession was motivated by the preservation and expansion of slavery. The Confederate Constitution provided an overall security net for slavery, and its explicit protections for slavery highlight the commitment to preserving this institution.

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