Simone Lawson
The U.S. Constitution, signed in 1787, was a document that laid the foundation for the United States of America. However, it was also a document that had deep roots in slavery. The question of how many men who signed the Constitution owned slaves is a complex one and there is no clear consensus. While some sources claim that about 25 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention owned slaves, others put the number at 17. Regardless, it is clear that slavery played a significant role in the creation of the Constitution, with clauses such as the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Fugitive Slave Clause protecting the institution of slavery and the slave economy.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Consensus on the number of men who signed the Constitution and had slaves | No |
| Number of men who attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787 | 55 |
| Number of men who enslaved people according to Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History | 25 |
| Number of men who enslaved people according to the Constitutional Rights Foundation | 17 |
| Number of men who owned or managed slave-operated plantations or large farms | 12 |
| Names of some of the men who owned or managed slave-operated plantations or large farms | Richard Bassett, John Blair, William Blount, Pierce Butler, Daniel Carroll, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Rutledge, Richard Dobbs Spaight, George Washington, James Madison |
| First African American to sit on the Supreme Court | Thurgood Marshall |
| The Constitution included a clause that | Laid a foundation for tragic events to follow |
| The Constitution included a clause that protected slavery by | Counting three-fifths of a state's slave population in apportioning representation, giving the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College |
| The Constitution also | Prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years |
| The Constitution also included a | Fugitive slave clause that required the return of runaway slaves to their owners |
| The Constitution gave the federal government the power to | Put down domestic rebellions, including slave insurrections |
| The first five presidents of the United States | Four were slave owners |
| The only Founding Father to free the slaves he owned in his will | George Washington |
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What You'll Learn
- The number of men who signed the Constitution and had slaves is unclear
- The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History estimates about 25 of the 55 delegates
- The Constitutional Rights Foundation claims 17 of the 55 delegates were enslavers
- The National Park Service identified 12 signers, including George Washington
- The Constitution protected slavery, including the Three-Fifths Clause
The number of men who signed the Constitution and had slaves is unclear
The Constitutional Rights Foundation identifies James Madison as a slave owner, and a 1976 publication by the National Park Service names 11 other signers who "owned or managed slave-operated plantations or large farms". These 11 men were Richard Bassett, John Blair, William Blount, Pierce Butler, Daniel Carroll, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Rutledge, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and George Washington.
The Founding Fathers' views on slavery were complex. They were born into a slaveholding society where the morality of owning slaves was rarely questioned. However, many of the framers had moral qualms about slavery, and some, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became members of anti-slavery societies. While some members of the Constitutional Convention voiced "eloquent objections" to slavery, they ultimately consented to a document which laid a foundation for the tragic events which were to follow. The word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution, but the document provided important protections for slavery, including the Three-Fifths Clause, which gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College.
The issue of slavery proved to be a difficult one for the Founding Fathers to navigate. As the ideals of the Enlightenment began to spread through the American colonies in the 1760s and 1770s, the articulation of liberty and freedom clashed with the institution of slavery, creating vast regional and political divides. The sidestepping of the slavery issue by the framers of the Constitution left the seeds for future conflict, including the Civil War in 1861.
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The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History estimates about 25 of the 55 delegates
The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History estimates that about 25 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 enslaved people. This means that almost half of the men who signed the US Constitution and helped shape the country's future also had a direct hand in the institution of slavery. The Constitutional Rights Foundation puts forward a lower number, asserting that 17 of the 55 delegates were enslavers, but it is important to note that these 17 men held about 1,400 enslaved people between them.
The issue of slavery proved to be a difficult one for the Founding Fathers to navigate. Born into a slaveholding society, they rarely questioned the morality of owning slaves. However, as the ideals of the Enlightenment began to spread through the American colonies in the 1760s and 1770s, the concepts of liberty and freedom came to the fore, and slavery became a controversial topic. The Founding Fathers found themselves grappling with the contradictions between their stated beliefs in freedom and the reality of slavery.
While some members of the Constitutional Convention raised objections to slavery, the framers ultimately chose to sidestep the issue in the Constitution. Notably, the word "slave" does not appear in the document. Instead, the framers included clauses that protected slavery, such as the notorious three-fifths clause, which gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College based on their slave population. The Constitution also included a fugitive slave clause, requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and it prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for 20 years.
The compromises made by the framers of the Constitution laid the groundwork for future conflicts. As abolitionism gained momentum, the institution of slavery became a powder keg that would eventually explode into the Civil War in 1861. It was not until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment that slavery was finally abolished in the United States.
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The Constitutional Rights Foundation claims 17 of the 55 delegates were enslavers
The Constitutional Rights Foundation claims that 17 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were enslavers. This is a lower estimate than the Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History's approximation of "about 25". The 17 delegates in question collectively owned around 1,400 enslaved people.
The Constitutional Rights Foundation identified James Madison as an enslaver, and the 1976 publication *Signers of the Constitution* by the National Park Service named 11 other enslavers: Richard Bassett, John Blair, William Blount, Pierce Butler, Daniel Carroll, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Rutledge, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and George Washington.
The institution of slavery proved challenging for the Founding Fathers to navigate. They were born into a slaveholding society where the morality of owning slaves was rarely questioned. While some colonies supported slavery and others opposed it, the institution had deep roots in the colonies. A majority of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and nearly half of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention owned slaves. Four of the first five presidents of the United States were slave owners.
As the ideals of the Enlightenment spread through the American colonies in the 1760s and 1770s, the concepts of liberty and freedom became more prominent. As the Revolution progressed, slavery became a controversial topic that eventually resulted in vast regional and political divides. Some of the Founding Fathers, such as George Washington, began to change their views on slavery during the Revolutionary War. Washington wrote in 1786 that he wished "more and more to get clear" of owning slaves. However, he never took a public stand on the abolition of slavery and described his ownership of slaves as "the only unavoidable subject of regret". Washington was the only Founding Father to free the slaves he owned in his will.
The framers of the Constitution consciously avoided using the word "slave", recognising that it would tarnish the document. Nevertheless, slavery received important protections in the Constitution. The Three-Fifths Clause gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. The Constitution also prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for 20 years and included a fugitive slave clause requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners. These concessions on slavery were considered the price for the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. By sidestepping the issue, the framers laid the groundwork for future conflict. On the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, said that the Constitution was "defective from the start" due to its protection of slavery and failure to include all Americans in its phrase "We the People".
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The National Park Service identified 12 signers, including George Washington
The National Park Service identified 12 signers of the US Constitution who were slave owners, including George Washington. The other 11 were Richard Bassett, John Blair, William Blount, Pierce Butler, Daniel Carroll, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, John Rutledge, Richard Dobbs Spaight, and James Madison.
The number of men who signed the Constitution and owned slaves is not entirely clear. The Gilder Lehrman Institute for American History places the number at about 25 of the 55 delegates, while the Constitutional Rights Foundation states that 17 of the 55 delegates were enslavers. The ambiguity surrounding the exact number of slave-owning signatories may be due in part to the fact that the word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution. Framers consciously avoided its use, recognising that it would sully the document.
Slavery was a difficult issue for the Founding Fathers to navigate. They were born into a slaveholding society where the morality of owning slaves was rarely questioned. The ideals of the Enlightenment and the articulation of liberty and freedom brought the issue of slavery into controversy, eventually resulting in vast regional and political divides. Many of the framers harboured moral qualms about slavery, and some became members of anti-slavery societies. However, the Founding Fathers 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, southern states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union.
The Constitution included several clauses that protected slavery, such as the fugitive slave clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and 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.
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The Constitution protected slavery, including the Three-Fifths Clause
The Constitution of the United States was ratified 200 years before the first African American, Thurgood Marshall, sat on the Supreme Court. Marshall described the Constitution as “defective from the start”, arguing that the framers had excluded the majority of Americans by writing "We the People". While some members of the Constitutional Convention objected to slavery, Marshall believed that they had ultimately consented to a document that laid the foundation for tragic events.
Indeed, the Constitution protected slavery in several ways. Notably, 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. This clause, also known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, was crucial to Thomas Jefferson's victory in the 1800 election. The Constitution also included a fugitive slave clause, requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for 20 years. Furthermore, it gave the federal government the power to suppress domestic rebellions, including slave insurrections.
The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. They were convinced that if the Constitution restricted the slave trade, states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union. However, by avoiding the issue of slavery, the framers sowed the seeds for future conflict. As the institution of slavery expanded and deepened regional divides, the question of its future became increasingly contentious, ultimately leading to the Civil War in 1861.
The men who signed the Constitution were born into a slaveholding society where the morality of owning slaves was rarely questioned. While there is no consensus on the exact number, it is estimated that about 25 of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention owned slaves. This included prominent figures such as George Washington, who, despite expressing a desire to abolish slavery, never took a public stand on the issue and was the only Founding Father to free the slaves he owned in his will.
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Frequently asked questions
There is no clear consensus on the number of men who signed the US Constitution and enslaved people. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History estimates that about 25 of the 55 delegates who attended the convention in Philadelphia had slaves. The Constitutional Rights Foundation puts this number at 17.
Yes, many of the Founding Fathers were born into a slaveholding society and owned slaves. George Washington, for example, owned hundreds of slaves but later became conflicted about slavery and freed the slaves he owned in his will. Thomas Jefferson, John Rutledge, and Richard Bassett also owned slaves.
Yes, some of the Founding Fathers opposed slavery. Men like Marquis de Lafayette and John Laurens urged George Washington to work towards the abolition of slavery. Benjamin Franklin, a former slaveholder, and Alexander Hamilton, who was born in a slave colony, became members of anti-slavery societies.
While the word "slave" does not appear in the US Constitution, the document did provide important protections for slavery. The Three-Fifths Clause, for example, gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College based on their slave population. The Constitution also included a fugitive slave clause, requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for 20 years. These provisions led abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison to call the Constitution "a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell."
The issue of slavery caused significant regional and political divides between the North and the South. As the ideals of the Enlightenment spread and the Revolution progressed, slavery became a controversial topic. While some Northerners called for the immediate end of slavery, Southerners increasingly viewed slavery as a "positive good" rather than a "necessary evil." Proposals to eliminate slavery by constitutional amendment were introduced but failed to gain traction. The conflict over slavery ultimately contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.
