Malcolm Rivera
The original United States Constitution 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 elsewhere in the document. The Three-Fifths Clause, Fugitive Slave Clause, and Slave Trade Clause are some of the most well-known provisions related to slavery. The 13th Amendment, passed in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States, but the Constitution's role in protecting and perpetuating slavery remains a subject of debate and controversy.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| The word "slave" in the Constitution | The word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution. |
| The Constitution's stance on slavery | The Constitution's stance on slavery is debated. Some say it was pro-slavery, while others argue it was anti-slavery. |
| The Three-Fifths Clause | This clause counted three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population for representation purposes, giving Southern states more power. |
| The Fugitive Slave Clause | This clause required that an escaped slave be returned to their owner. |
| The Slave Trade Clause | This clause prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808. |
| The 13th Amendment | Passed in 1865, this amendment abolished slavery in the United States. |
| Racial inequalities | Racial inequalities stemming from slavery have persisted throughout American history. |
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What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Clause
The Three-Fifths Compromise, also known as the Constitutional Compromise of 1787, was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. The agreement was regarding the inclusion of slaves in counting a state's total population. This count would determine the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the number of electoral votes each state would be allocated, and how much money the states would pay in taxes.
Slaveholding states wanted their entire population to be counted to determine the number of Representatives they could send to Congress. Free states, on the other hand, wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, since those slaves had no voting rights. The Three-Fifths Compromise counted three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives, giving the Southern states more power in the House relative to the Northern states.
The Three-Fifths Compromise is part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. The clause reads: "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". The three-fifths ratio originated with an amendment proposed to the Articles of Confederation on April 18, 1783. The amendment changed the basis for determining the wealth of each state from real estate to population, as a measure of ability to produce wealth.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was superseded and repealed by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868.
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Fugitive Slave Clause
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. It requires that a "Person held to Service or Labour" who flees to another state be returned to their master in the state from which they escaped. The clause was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and remained in effect until the abolition of slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment, which rendered it unenforceable.
The Fugitive Slave Clause gave slaveholders the right to reclaim or capture enslaved people who escaped to free states. It states that:
> 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.
The Clause did not use the words "slave" or "slavery", and historian Donald Fehrenbacher believes that this was a deliberate attempt to avoid giving constitutional legitimacy to slavery at a federal level. However, modern legal scholars debate the true impact of the Clause, with some arguing that it functionally entrenched slaveholder power.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was the basis for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which gave slaveholders the right to capture escaped enslaved persons and required state officials to assist in their recapture. Resistance to the enforcement of the Clause and the Act increased in the 19th century, particularly in Northern states, where several personal liberty laws were enacted to protect free Black residents from kidnapping and provide safeguards for accused fugitives.
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Slave Trade Clause
The Slave Trade Clause, or the Importation of Persons Clause, is Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1 of the US Constitution. This clause prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of "persons" until 20 years after the Constitution took effect. The word "slave" is not used in the Constitution, and the clause instead refers to the importation of "such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit". This was a compromise between the Southern states, where slavery was a pivotal part of the economy, and the Northern states, where abolition was contemplated or had been achieved.
At the time of the drafting of the Constitution, slavery was a major component of the economy and society in the United States. The Slave Trade Clause was a compromise between those who wanted to abolish slavery and those who wanted to continue it. 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, southern states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union.
The Slave Trade Clause was set to expire in 1808, and in 1800, an act of Congress made it illegal for Americans to engage in the slave trade between nations. The federal government was given the right to seize slave ships and confiscate their cargo. The Slave Trade Clause is no longer constitutionally relevant, but it remains in the Constitution, and so it still holds cultural and political relevance in the discourse of the morality and profitability of the international trade in human beings.
The Three-Fifths Clause in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, provided that apportionment of representatives would be based on the population of free persons, excluding "Indians not taxed" and "three-fifths of all other persons". These "other persons" were the African slaves who made up around a third of the population of the Southern states.
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Abolition of slavery
The original United States Constitution 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 elsewhere in the document. The Three-Fifths Clause (Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3) counted three-fifths of each state's slave population towards that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives, giving Southern states more power. The Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2) required that escaped slaves be returned to their owners. The Slave Trade Clause (Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 1) prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808. The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government.
Throughout U.S. history, there have been disputes about whether the Constitution was pro-slavery or anti-slavery. James Oakes writes that the Constitution's Fugitive Slave Clause and Three-Fifths Clause "might well be considered the bricks and mortar of the proslavery Constitution". However, he adds that "there was also an antislavery Constitution". Congress was granted the power to make 'all needful rules and regulations' for the territories, and many believed this authorized the federal government to ban slavery. In 1854, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison burned the Constitution, calling it "a covenant with death and an agreement with Hell".
In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all persons held as slaves within any state in rebellion against the United States were to be free. However, this did not end slavery nationwide, as it only applied to areas of the Confederacy in rebellion. Lincoln recognized that a constitutional amendment was needed to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. The 13th Amendment, passed at the end of the Civil War, abolished slavery in the United States. It was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865. The 13th Amendment states that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction".
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Framers' intentions
The United States Constitution, drafted in 1787, 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 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.
The Three-Fifths Clause (Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3) counted three-fifths of each state's slave population towards that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives. This gave the Southern states more power in the House and in the Electoral College. The Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2) required that an escaped slave be returned to their owner. The Slave Trade Clause (Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 1) prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808.
The framers of the Constitution consciously avoided using direct language about slavery, recognising that it would sully the document. Their conflicted stance towards slavery was due to the stark contrasts between northern and southern states. Northern states, such as Massachusetts, used universalistic language affirming freedom and equality for all men, while southern states, like Virginia, employed restrictive language that limited rights to "freemen," thereby accommodating slavery.
The Constitution's protections of slavery have been criticised as its "biggest flaw". Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, said that the framers had left out a majority of Americans when they wrote the phrase, "We the People". He and others argued that the Constitution laid the foundation for tragic events to follow, including the Civil War, which ultimately led to the abolition of slavery through constitutional amendments.
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Frequently asked questions
The Slave Trade Clause, also known as the Migration or Importation Clause, is found in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1 of the US Constitution. It prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808.
The Three-Fifths Clause is found in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3. It stated that three-fifths of each state's slave population would be counted towards that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives. This gave Southern states more power in the House and in the Electoral College.
The Fugitive Slave Clause is found in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2. It required that an escaped slave be returned to their owner.
