Omar Bennett
The word slave does not appear in the US Constitution. The framers consciously avoided the word, recognising that it would taint the document. However, slavery received important protections in the Constitution. The three-fifths clause, 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 prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808 and included the fugitive slave clause, requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners. These measures ensured that slavery remained a national issue, embedding it deeper into the fabric of American governance.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Does the US Constitution contain the word "slave"? | No, the word "slave" is not mentioned in the US Constitution. |
| Does the US Constitution contain the word "slavery"? | No, the word "slavery" is not mentioned in the US Constitution. |
| Does the US Constitution deal with American slavery? | Yes, the US Constitution deals directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protects the institution elsewhere in the document. |
| What are the provisions that deal with slavery? | The Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, the Fugitive Slave Clause, and the Slave Insurrections. |
| What is the Three-Fifths 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. |
| What is the Fugitive Slave Clause? | The Fugitive Slave Clause requires the return of runaway slaves to their owners. |
| What is the Slave Insurrection Clause? | The Slave Insurrection Clause allowed for the suppression of slave revolts. |
| What is the compromise regarding slavery? | The US Constitution does not authorize or prohibit slavery, instead leaving it up to the states to decide. |
| What is the role of the Framers in the compromise? | The Framers deliberately avoided using direct language about slavery in the Constitution, referring to slaves as "Persons" instead of property. They believed that slavery was morally wrong and would eventually die out, and they did not want a permanent moral stain on the document. |
| What is the impact of the compromise? | The compromise entrenched slavery and created a moral and legal crisis that contributed to the coming of the Civil War. It also ensured that slavery remained a national issue, embedding it deeper into the fabric of American governance. |
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What You'll Learn
- The word slave does not appear in the US Constitution
- The Constitution's Three-Fifths Clause, Fugitive Slave Clause, and ban on Congress ending the slave trade for 20 years protected slavery
- The Framers avoided using the word slave because they believed slavery was morally wrong and would eventually die out
- The Framers' refusal to include the word slavery in the Constitution was criticised by Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court
- The Constitution's ambiguous language regarding slavery led to disputes over whether it was proslavery or antislavery
The word slave does not appear in the US Constitution
The word "slave" does not appear in the US Constitution. Nor does the word "slavery". The delegates to the Constitutional Convention refused to write either word in the Constitution's text. Instead, they compromised on the issue of slavery, writing important protections for slaveholders into the charter.
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, southern states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union. Many of the framers harbored moral qualms about slavery, and some became members of anti-slavery societies. However, they were also aware that the southern economy's reliance on slavery made it politically impossible to abolish the institution.
The framers' conflicted stance toward slavery led them to deliberately avoid using direct language about the institution in the Constitution. Instead, they created a document of compromise that represented the interests of the nation as they knew it and predicted it to be in the future. This is reflected in the three clauses that deal with slavery: the three-fifths compromise, the importation of slaves, and the fugitive-slave law. These clauses demonstrate that there was no ruling principle on slavery. The wording was very ambiguous, and the provisions regarding slavery were mainly for the sake of compromise and the perpetuation of the Union.
The framers' avoidance of the word "slave" in the Constitution indicates that slavery was not accepted by all and that they hoped it would be eliminated. They did not want to explicitly refer to slavery in a document that was supposed to stand the test of time, especially if the institution would inevitably die out. This is supported by the protection of the slave trade only until 1808, which indicated that Congress was likely to abolish it, which they soon did.
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The Constitution's Three-Fifths Clause, Fugitive Slave Clause, and ban on Congress ending the slave trade for 20 years protected slavery
The word "slave" does not appear in the US Constitution. The framers consciously avoided the word, recognising that it would sully the document. However, the Constitution did include several provisions that protected the institution of slavery.
The Three-Fifths Clause, also known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, is one such provision. This clause counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation. This gave the Southern states extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. It also meant that slaveholding states were perpetually overrepresented in national politics. The Three-Fifths Compromise was a compromise between Southern politicians, who wanted enslaved African Americans to be counted as 'persons' for congressional representation, and Northern politicians, who rejected these demands out of concern for giving the South too much power.
Another provision that protected slavery was the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. This clause, along with the Three-Fifths Clause, gave important protections to slaveholders.
Additionally, the Constitution prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for 20 years. This was part of a compromise between Southern delegates, who wanted to protect the slave trade, and those who wanted to restrict it. In exchange for a 20-year ban on any restrictions on the slave trade, 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.
These provisions in the Constitution reflect the compromise that was made between the Northern and Southern states at the Constitutional Convention. The Southern states depended heavily on slave-based agriculture and were reluctant to abolish slavery, while the Northern states had already accomplished or contemplated abolition. The delegates ultimately agreed to prioritise the unity and independence of the United States over the eradication of slavery.
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The Framers avoided using the word slave because they believed slavery was morally wrong and would eventually die out
The original United States Constitution did not contain the word "slave" or "slavery" within its text. The Framers avoided using the word "slave" because they believed slavery was morally wrong and would eventually die out. They did not want the moral stain of slavery on the document. Instead, they referred to slaves as "persons".
The Framers' conflicted stance towards slavery led them to deliberately avoid using direct language about the institution in the Constitution. Many of the Framers harbored moral qualms about slavery. Some, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became members of anti-slavery societies. At the time of the drafting of the Constitution in 1787, slavery was banned by the states in New England and Pennsylvania and by the Congress of the Confederation in the Northwest Territory. Because of the declining productivity of crops like tobacco due to soil exhaustion, many of the drafters of the Constitution assumed that slavery would die out naturally in the South as it had done in the industrialized North.
However, the Constitution indirectly protected slavery and the slave trade. The Framers 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. The Constitution included the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted 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 included the Fugitive Slave Clause, requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808.
The Framers' avoidance of the word "slave" and their concessions to slavery in the Constitution laid the foundation for tragic events to follow. The Constitution embedded slavery deeper into the fabric of American governance, creating a moral and legal crisis that would contribute to the Civil War.
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The Framers' refusal to include the word slavery in the Constitution was criticised by Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court
The United States Constitution, drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1789, did not contain the words "slave" or "slavery" within its text. However, it dealt directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution in other parts of the document. The framers of the Constitution consciously avoided using these words, recognising that they would sully the document.
Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, criticised the framers' refusal to include the word "slavery" in the Constitution. On the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution, Marshall described the document as "'defective from the start'". He argued that the framers had left out a majority of Americans when they wrote the phrase, "We the People". While some members of the Constitutional Convention voiced objections to slavery, Marshall said they "consented to a document which laid a foundation for the tragic events which were to follow".
Marshall's criticism highlights the deliberate injustices written into the Constitution, such as the exclusion of slaves from the right to vote, although they were counted for representational purposes as three-fifths of a person. This compromise was made to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government, as many southern states' economies were dependent on slavery. The framers' conflicted stance towards slavery led them to sidestep the issue, which ultimately contributed to future conflicts, including the Civil War.
In his criticism, Marshall also emphasised the evolving nature of the Constitution, acknowledging that it required amendments, a civil war, and social transformation to attain respect for individual freedoms and human rights. He recognised that the document needed to evolve as the nation did, addressing disparities in access to suffrage, education, and other fundamental rights. Marshall's interpretation of the Constitution underscored the complexities and contradictions inherent in America's founding creed.
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The Constitution's ambiguous language regarding slavery led to disputes over whether it was proslavery or antislavery
The United States Constitution, drafted in 1787 and ratified in 1789, does not contain the words "slave" or "slavery" within its text. However, it dealt directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution in other parts of the document. The framers of the Constitution consciously avoided using these words, recognising that they would sully the document. Instead, they employed ambiguous language, such as "all other Persons", which implied slavery without explicitly mentioning it. This deliberate ambiguity reflected the conflicting views of the framers, some of whom owned slaves, while others had moral qualms about slavery and were members of anti-slavery societies.
The Constitution included several clauses that protected slavery and slaveholders. The Three-Fifths Clause, for example, 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, even if they had escaped to a free state. Additionally, the Constitution prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808, further entrenching the institution.
These provisions led to disputes over whether the Constitution was pro-slavery or anti-slavery. Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who burned a copy of the document in 1854, called it "a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell". He and others viewed the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-Fifths Clause as evidence of the Constitution's pro-slavery nature. On the other hand, some argued that the Constitution's grant of power to Congress to make "all needful rules and regulations" for the territories authorised the federal government to ban slavery from those territories. Additionally, the Preamble's statement of securing the blessings of liberty and the Fifth Amendment's protection of liberty and property could be interpreted as having anti-slavery sentiments.
The ambiguous language of the Constitution regarding slavery contributed to a moral and legal crisis that persisted for decades and ultimately led to the Civil War. The compromises made by the framers to accommodate both pro-slavery and anti-slavery sentiments laid the foundation for tragic events, including the Southern secession and the Civil War. The Constitution's failure to explicitly address slavery and its ambiguous wording left room for conflicting interpretations and contributed to the conflict between America's founding principles and the existence of chattel slavery.
In conclusion, the Constitution's ambiguous language regarding slavery resulted from the framers' attempts to compromise and accommodate the conflicting views of the time. This ambiguity led to disputes over whether the document was pro-slavery or anti-slavery and had far-reaching consequences, including contributing to the nation's deadliest conflict. The Constitution's failure to directly address slavery and the deliberate avoidance of explicit language on the issue highlight the complexity and challenges faced by the framers in drafting a document that represented the interests of a nation deeply divided over this moral question.
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Frequently asked questions
The word "slave" is not mentioned in the US Constitution.
The word "slave" was avoided because the framers of the Constitution believed that slavery was morally wrong and would eventually die out. They did not want the permanent moral stain of slavery on the document. Instead, they used ambiguous language and created several compromises.
The US Constitution included three clauses that pertained to slavery: the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, and the Fugitive Slave Clause. These clauses indicate many views of the country at the time of the adoption of the Constitution.
The US Constitution did not explicitly authorize or prohibit slavery. However, it included provisions that indirectly protected the institution of slavery, such as prohibiting Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808. The Constitution also required states to return fugitive slaves, ensuring that slavery remained a national issue.
