Isabella Carter
The United States Constitution, written in 1787, was a compromise between the North and the South on the issue of slavery. While the exact number of slaves at the time is unknown, it is estimated that around 25 out of 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention enslaved people, with some sources putting the number at 17. The Southern states, dependent on slave labor for their cash crops, threatened to leave the Union if the federal government regulated the slave trade. The Three-Fifths Clause, a compromise that counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation purposes, gave the South more political power and protected slavery, despite some delegates' moral qualms. The Constitution's ambiguous language on slavery and lack of a bill of rights have been interpreted as both pro-slavery and anti-slavery, with the issue left for future generations to resolve.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of delegates at the Constitutional Convention | 55 |
| Number of delegates who owned slaves | 25 |
| Number of slaves owned by the delegates | ~1,400 |
| Number of delegates who were from slave-owning families | 11 |
| Number of states represented at the convention | 12 |
| Number of states that allowed the slave trade | 3 |
| Number of states that outlawed the slave trade | 10 |
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What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Clause
The clause, found in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, states:
> Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.
Here, the "other Persons" refer to slaves. The Three-Fifths Clause effectively gave the Southern states more power in the House of Representatives relative to the Northern states. It also gave the South extra representation in the House and extra votes in the Electoral College.
The interpretation of the Three-Fifths Clause is a contentious issue. Some argue that it gave greater power to the Southern states and that it considered slaves as less than fully human. However, others, like Frederick Douglass, believed that it encouraged freedom. He argued that it gave "an increase of 'two-fifths' of political power to free over slave states". Furthermore, the Constitution nowhere forbids a coloured man to vote. Thus, the Three-Fifths Clause can be interpreted as leaning towards freedom, not slavery.
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Fugitive Slave Clause
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, was a part of the United States Constitution. It was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, on the same day as the agreement to prohibit the federal government from regulating the Atlantic slave trade.
The Fugitive Slave Clause, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3, 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.
In essence, this clause gave slave owners the right to seize and reclaim their slaves who had escaped to free states. It also meant that states could not pass laws to protect escaped slaves from being returned to their owners. The Supreme Court's interpretation of the Fugitive Slave Clause was that the owner of an enslaved person had the same right to seize and repossess them in another state as the local laws of their own state granted to them.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was controversial, with some arguing that it was a pro-slavery measure. It was eventually rendered mostly irrelevant by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which abolished slavery except as a punishment for criminal acts.
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The number of slaves
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was held to revise the Articles of Confederation, which had been adopted in 1781 and did not mention slavery. The Articles left the power to regulate slavery to the individual states. However, the delegates at the 1787 convention quickly changed their goal from revising the Articles to writing a new Constitution. This new Constitution would go on to include several clauses related to slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause and the Fugitive Slave Clause.
The Three-Fifths Clause, or Article I, Section 2, stated that slaves would count as three-fifths of a person when determining a state's population. This was a compromise between the Northern and Southern states, as it impacted how many members each state had in the House of Representatives, how many electoral votes each state had in presidential elections, and how much each state paid in direct taxes to the federal government. The Southern states, which had larger numbers of slaves, wanted slaves to be counted as part of the population to increase their political power, while the Northern states disagreed.
The Fugitive Slave Clause, or Article IV, Section 2, required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. This clause was included in the Constitution after the Northwest Ordinance, which included a similar promise to return escaped slaves to their owners.
The issue of slavery was a contentious one during the drafting of the Constitution, and it would continue to be a source of conflict in the United States for many years to come.
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The slave trade
The issue of the slave trade itself also divided the convention. Ten states had already outlawed it, but the three states that allowed it—Georgia and the two Carolinas—threatened to leave the convention if the trade were banned. Another compromise was reached: Congress would have the power to ban the slave trade, but not until 1808, a date that was extended from the initially proposed year 1800.
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, the southernmost states would refuse to join the Union. This sidestepping of the slavery issue left the seeds for future conflict.
The Three-Fifths Clause, the Fugitive Slave Clause, and the Importation Clause have been used to indict the Constitution as a pro-slavery document. However, some argue that there was also an anti-slavery Constitution, as Congress was granted the power to make rules and regulations for the territories, and the principle of fundamental human equality was embodied in the document.
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Compromises made
The US Constitution was written during a time when slavery was a contentious issue, with some Northern states having already abolished it, while Southern states relied on it for their cash crops. The 55 delegates at the 1787 convention, about 25 of whom owned slaves, sought to balance their moral qualms about slavery with the need for a strong central government.
One of the key compromises made during the drafting of the Constitution was the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation. This gave the Southern states greater representation in the House of Representatives and more votes in the Electoral College, but it also meant they had to pay higher taxes.
Another compromise involved the slave trade. Ten states had already outlawed it, but Georgia and the two Carolinas threatened to leave the convention if it were banned. A special committee was formed, and it was decided that Congress would have the power to ban the slave trade, but not until 1808, 20 years after the Constitution was ratified.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was another compromise, requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners. This was included in the Constitution after the Northwest Ordinance promised that slaves who escaped to the Northwest Territories would be returned to their owners.
Finally, the omission of a bill of rights in the Constitution has been interpreted as a compromise influenced by the issue of slavery. The stark differences between the Northern and Southern states regarding their bills of rights made it difficult to agree on a unified bill.
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Frequently asked questions
This is a highly debated question. The Constitution included the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-Fifths Clause, which have been interpreted as pro-slavery. However, some argue that the Constitution also contained anti-slavery elements, such as the power given to Congress to make rules and regulations for the territories, which could include banning slavery.
Yes, of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 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.
The 17 delegates who were enslavers held about 1,400 enslaved people. However, this number only accounts for the delegates at the Constitutional Convention and not all slave owners in the US at the time.
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