Jonah Patel
The US Constitution was written in 1787 by 55 delegates, of whom about 25 owned slaves. The document never uses the word slave or slavery, but it does refer to slaves as persons held in service or labor. The Constitution protected slavery in several ways, including 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. The Founding Fathers, including George Washington, had conflicting views on slavery, and some became members of anti-slavery societies.
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What You'll Learn
The US Constitution's implicit acceptance of slavery
The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not include the word "slavery" in its provisions that responded to the practice. Instead, it used terms like the Importation of Persons Clause and the Three-Fifths Clause. The framers consciously avoided the word, recognising that it would taint the document.
The Constitution included several clauses that implicitly accepted and protected slavery. The Three-Fifths Clause in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, counted three-fifths of each state's slave population towards representation in Congress, giving Southern states with large slave populations greater representation in the House of Representatives and more votes in the Electoral College. This clause also excluded "Indians not taxed" from the population count. The Fugitive Slave Clause, or the Importation of Persons Clause, in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, even if they had escaped to states where slavery had been abolished. Article One, Section 9, Clause 1, prohibited Congress from passing any law that would restrict the importation of slaves into the United States for 20 years after the Constitution took effect. This clause was explicitly shielded from amendment during that time.
The Constitution also gave the federal government the power to put down 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, Southern states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union. This compromise between Northern and Southern states was essential for the ratification of the Constitution and the formation of the Union, but it was ultimately unsustainable, as demonstrated by the Civil War.
While the Constitution implicitly accepted and protected slavery, it did not define who was eligible to vote, leaving this to the states. In the early history of the US, most states only allowed white male adult property owners to vote. It was not until the Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments) were adopted between 1865 and 1870, in the five years immediately following the Civil War, that the Constitution abolished slavery and granted citizenship and voting rights to former slaves.
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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 required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. The clause was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and was Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution.
The clause stated 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."
This meant that even if a slave escaped to a state where slavery had been abolished, they would still be returned to their owner. The Supreme Court's interpretation of the Fugitive Slave Clause gave the owner of an enslaved person the right to seize and repossess them in another state. This was based on the local laws of the owner's state, and any state laws that penalised such a seizure were deemed unconstitutional.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was controversial, and it has been argued that it was a pro-slavery document. The word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution, and the framers consciously avoided using it. However, slavery received important protections in the Constitution. For example, 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 twenty years.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was effectively nullified by the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to former slaves and all persons subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
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Three-fifths clause
The Three-Fifths Compromise was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention over the inclusion of slaves in a state's total population. This population 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 elect and send to Congress. Free states wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, since those slaves had no voting rights. A compromise was struck to resolve this impasse. The 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, effectively 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:
> 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 was first proposed by James Madison, although it fell two states short of the unanimous approval required to amend the Articles of Confederation. In 1868, Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed the Three-Fifths Compromise.
The Constitution, ratified in 1788, did not abolish slavery or give citizenship and voting rights to former slaves. It was not until the Reconstruction Amendments were adopted between 1865 and 1870, in the five years immediately following the American Civil War, that slavery was abolished and former slaves were granted citizenship.
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Abolitionist opposition
The US Constitution, in seeking to form a more perfect union, laid the foundation for a more just nation. However, the document's compromises with slavery, a "nefarious institution", have been a source of controversy and moral conflict. The Constitution prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years and included the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. These clauses, along with the Three-Fifths Clause, which gave extra representation to slave-owning states, were protections for slavery. The Constitution's framers believed that these concessions were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates and preserve the Union.
The Constitution's interaction with slavery has been a subject of debate and contention, with abolitionists offering strong opposition. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. This amendment was a culmination of the efforts of abolitionists, who had long opposed the institution of slavery and the Constitution's compromises.
Abolitionists, such as William Lloyd Garrison, who burned a copy of the Constitution in 1854, viewed the document as pro-slavery. Garrison's dramatic act of protest highlighted his belief that the Constitution was complicit in upholding slavery. Similarly, in 1860, Frederick Douglass, a former slave, noted that the framers had purposefully avoided using the words "slave" or "slavery" in the Constitution. Douglass argued that the Constitution's language of ""We the people" included all Americans, not just white Americans, and that the document was intended to put slavery on a course of ""ultimate extinction".
The Fugitive Slave Clause, which required citizens of free states to return runaway slaves to their owners, was particularly abhorrent to abolitionists. In 1854, a large crowd of abolitionists and anti-slavery sympathizers stormed a jail in Boston to free Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave awaiting extradition to Virginia. This incident demonstrates the passionate opposition of abolitionists to the Fugitive Slave Clause and their willingness to take direct action to undermine it.
The Supreme Court case of Prigg v. Pennsylvania also highlighted abolitionist opposition to the Fugitive Slave Clause. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of a slave catcher, Edward Prigg, who had abducted a free Black woman, Margaret Morgan, and her children in Maryland and sought to return them to their slave-owning owners in Virginia. Pennsylvania's laws, which made it more difficult for slave catchers to enforce the Fugitive Slave Clause, were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, illustrating the conflict between abolitionists and the Constitution's protections for slavery.
In conclusion, while the Constitution's framers may have believed that their compromises with slavery were necessary for the preservation of the Union, abolitionists vehemently opposed these concessions. The 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, was a testament to the efforts of abolitionists who fought against the institution of slavery and the Constitution's initial compromises. The debate over the Constitution's role in slavery continues to be a subject of historical interpretation and moral contemplation.
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Compromise and the Constitution
The United States Constitution was written by a group of delegates during the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Many of these delegates were slave owners, and the issue of slavery was hotly debated. The delegates ultimately agreed to several compromises to satisfy the interests of the Southern states, particularly Georgia and South Carolina, and ensure their support for a strong central government.
The first compromise was to protect the importation of slaves for 20 years, until 1808. This was achieved through Article One, Section 9, Clause 1 of the Constitution, which prevented Congress from passing any law that would restrict the importation of slaves before that date. The delegates also agreed to the Three-Fifths Clause, which allowed states to count three-fifths of their slave population as part of their total population for representation in the federal government. This gave the Southern states extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College.
Another compromise was the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, even if they had escaped to states where slavery had been abolished. This clause was enforced by the federal government and its officers, who were actively involved in the protection of people as property. The delegates also adopted the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a Congress with proportional representation in the lower house and equal representation in the upper house, or the Senate, giving each state two senators.
While these compromises held the Union together and facilitated the ratification of the Constitution, they also laid the foundation for future conflicts. Slavery continued for six more decades, and the less populous Southern states continued to have disproportionate representation in the U.S. government. The Constitution's failure to address slavery directly and its protection of slavery through these compromises contributed to the moral bankruptcy of the institution and the eventual eruption of the Civil War.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, slave owners were involved in writing the American Constitution. Of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about 25 owned slaves, and nearly half of the eventual signatories to the Constitution owned slaves.
The American Constitution did include protections for slavery. The Three-Fifths Clause counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, giving the slavery-supporting 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.
Many of the Founding Fathers were wealthy slave owners. However, some did have moral qualms about the institution. Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, for example, became members of anti-slavery societies. The Founding Fathers did make some efforts to contain slavery, and the Constitution's "'We the People' phrasing was interpreted by some as a statement against slavery.
This is a complex question that continues to provoke controversy. While the Constitution did include protections for slavery, it also created a central government that was eventually powerful enough to abolish the institution.
No, the word "slave" does not appear in the American Constitution. The framers consciously avoided using the word, recognising that it would sully the document.
