Isabella Carter
The United States Constitution, a document that champions individual rights, fairness, and justice, has been criticised for its protection of the institution of slavery. The Constitution never uses the word slave or slavery and only obliquely refers to it through clauses such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, giving Southern states more representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. The framers of the Constitution believed that this compromise was necessary to maintain a strong central government, as some slaveholding delegates threatened to walk out of the convention if slavery was threatened. While some framers had moral qualms about slavery, they believed that the Union had to be formed with the institution of slavery, but they also hoped that their regime of liberty would lead to slavery's extinction.
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What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Clause
The Three-Fifths Compromise was a compromise between the delegates from the Northern and Southern states. The compromise was that three-fifths of each state's slave population would be counted as part of the state's total population. This number would then be used to determine the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the number of electoral votes each state would receive, and the amount of money states would pay in taxes.
Slaveholding states wanted their entire population to be counted when determining the number of Representatives they could elect and send to Congress. On the other hand, free states wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, as those slaves had no voting rights. The Three-Fifths Compromise effectively gave Southern states more power in the House of Representatives relative to Northern states.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was an attempt to resolve the issue of representation in the House of Representatives and taxation. It was a compromise that sought to balance the interests of the Northern and Southern states. However, it is important to note that this compromise gave an increase of "two-fifths" of political power to free states over slave states.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was later superseded and explicitly repealed by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. This amendment provided that representatives would be apportioned by counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding untaxed Indians.
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Economic interests
The framers of the US Constitution were conscious of the moral stain of slavery, and the word "slave" does not appear in the document. Instead, the Constitution refers to slaves as "persons". However, the Constitution does protect the institution of slavery, and this protection can be understood as a means of safeguarding the economic interests of the framers and the southern states.
The framers believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to secure 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. John Rutledge of South Carolina, for instance, insisted that unless the regulation of the slave trade was left to the states, the southern-most states "shall not be parties to the union".
The framers, therefore, made a prudential compromise with slavery because they sought to achieve their highest goal of a stronger Union of republican self-government. As John Rutledge admitted, "Interest alone is the governing principle with nations".
The Three-Fifths Clause in the Constitution 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, located in Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, was the only reference to the way enslaved persons were to be regarded by the federal government before 1865. It was also one of three clauses relating to slavery that made it into the final draft of the Constitution.
The Constitution also included a ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, the fugitive slave clause, and the slave insurrection clause. These clauses protected the economic interests of the slaveholding delegations, who threatened to walk out of the Constitution if slavery was threatened. The free states wanted to maintain leverage over the slave states to end slavery, and so they conceded to these clauses.
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Avoiding the word 'slavery'
The word "slave" does not appear in the US Constitution, nor does “slavery". The framers consciously avoided the word, recognising that it would sully the document. Instead, they referred to slaves as "persons".
The framers believed that slavery contradicted the natural rights of all and denied the idea of consent in a republic. Many framers harboured moral qualms about slavery, and some, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became members of anti-slavery societies. They believed that slavery was morally wrong and would die out, and they did not want a permanent moral stain on the document.
However, the Constitution did protect the institution of slavery. The Three-Fifths Clause gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. The Constitution also banned Congress from ending the slave trade for 20 years, and it contained the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required that an escaped slave be returned to their owner.
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.
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Concessions for support
The concessions made by the framers of the Constitution regarding slavery were driven by the belief that such compromises were necessary to secure the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. The issue of slavery was a contentious one during the drafting of the Constitution, with around 25 of the 55 delegates owning slaves, while others had moral qualms about the practice.
The framers consciously avoided using the words "slavery" and "slave" in the Constitution, instead referring to slaves as "persons." This was done to avoid sullying the document with what they saw as a morally reprehensible institution, and because they believed slavery would eventually die out. However, they included several clauses that indirectly addressed slavery and protected the institution.
One of the most significant concessions was the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation. This gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. 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 concessions were made to maintain the support of the slaveholding delegations, who threatened to walk out of the Constitutional Convention if slavery was threatened. There was a concern that without these compromises, there would be separate free and slave confederacies instead of a unified United States. The framers believed that these concessions were a necessary step towards achieving their goal of a stronger Union of republican self-government.
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Protection of individual rights
The US Constitution, despite being a document that laid the foundation for a regime of liberty, had several clauses that protected the institution of slavery. The Constitution was drafted in 1787 for an agrarian slave society, and it is notable that the word "slave" does not appear in the document. The framers consciously avoided the word, recognising that it would taint the document. Instead, the framers referred to slaves as "persons".
The Constitution included several clauses that protected slavery and the slave trade. The Three-Fifths Clause, for instance, 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. Article 1, Section 9, prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808, and Article 5 prohibited this from being amended. Article 4, Section 2, contained the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required that an escaped slave be returned to their owner. The framers also banned Congress from ending the slave trade for 20 years.
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, some states would refuse to join the Union. Many of the framers had moral qualms about slavery, and some became members of anti-slavery societies. They believed that slavery was morally wrong and would eventually die out. By sidestepping the issue, however, they laid the seeds for future conflict.
The Constitution's protection of slavery has been criticised as the document's biggest flaw. Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, said that the Constitution was "defective from the start" because it left out a majority of Americans when it used the phrase "We the People". It is notable that the Constitution, despite its protection of individual rights, only protected the rights of white men. The 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War, added the assurance of equal protection.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, the Constitution protected the institution of slavery. Article 1, Section 9, prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808, and Article 5 prohibited this from being amended. Article 1, Section 2, also known as the Three-Fifths Clause, provided that enslaved Black people in a state would be counted as three-fifths of the number of white inhabitants for representation in Congress. Article 4, Section 2, contains the "fugitive slave clause", which required that an escaped slave be returned to their owner.
The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. Many framers had moral qualms about slavery, and some became members of anti-slavery societies. However, they sought to achieve their highest goal of a stronger Union of republican self-government.
The Constitution did not explicitly mention the words "slavery" or "slave". The framers avoided using these words and instead referred to slaves as "persons". However, the Constitution included several clauses that indirectly addressed slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, and the fugitive slave clause.
The framers justified the inclusion of slavery by arguing that it was necessary for economic interests and to maintain the Union. They believed that if they restricted the slave trade, some states would refuse to join the Union. The framers also held revolutionary ideals of fairness, justice, and individual rights, which conflicted with their allowance of slavery.
Slavery was abolished through the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was ratified on December 6, 1865. It forbade chattel slavery across the United States and in its territories, declaring that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist, except as punishment for crimes.
