Eleanor Finch
The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not contain the word slave, but slavery was hotly debated during the Constitutional Convention, and the document included protections for slavery. The Three-Fifths Compromise, for example, counted three-fifths of a state's slave population for representation, giving southern states with large slave populations more representatives and electoral votes. 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. While some members of the Constitutional Convention objected to slavery, others believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain support for a strong central government. It wasn't until the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865 that slavery was officially abolished in the US.
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What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Compromise
Slaveholding states wanted their entire population to be counted to determine the number of Representatives those states 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 North.
The three-fifths number did not come from a belief that enslaved people were partially human; rather, the number was derived from an approximation of measuring the wealth that an enslaved person contributed to that state's economy. The Three-Fifths concept predated the Constitutional Convention and had been debated in the Confederation Congress, but for the first time, it was added to a national government document in 1787. The additional seats in Congress that southern states gained with the Three-Fifths Compromise created the "Slave Power" in the legislature and allowed bills favourable to the southern region to pass more easily in Congress.
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Fugitive Slave Clause
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, was Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. The clause was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and remained in effect until the abolition of slavery under the Thirteenth Amendment.
The clause gave enslavers the right to seize and reclaim enslaved people who escaped to free states. It 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.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was a compromise between free states and slave states. In the late 18th century, many Northern states did not allow slavery, while it was a way of life in the American South. The clause gave enslavers a constitutional right to recover their "property", an enslaved person, from a different state.
The Supreme Court interpreted the Fugitive Slave Clause as giving the owner of an enslaved person the same right to seize and repossess them in another state as the local laws of their own state granted to them. State laws that penalized such a seizure were deemed unconstitutional.
Despite its constitutional authority, Northern resistance to the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Clause increased in the 19th century, especially after the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Several Northern states enacted personal liberty laws to protect free Black residents from kidnapping and provide safeguards for accused fugitives.
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Slavery in the Confederate Constitution
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America, established in 1861, was deeply rooted in inequality and freedom for whites only. The Confederate Constitution, an almost exact copy of the U.S. Constitution, explicitly protected slavery and prohibited the Confederate government from restricting it in any way. Article IV, Section 2, for example, prohibited states from interfering with slavery: "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States; and shall have the right of transit and sojourn in any State of this Confederacy, with their slaves and other property; and the right of property in said slaves shall not be thereby impaired."
The Confederate Constitution also banned the international slave trade, but this was not done with the hope of abolishing slavery. Instead, it was a strategic move to strengthen the domestic slave trade and appeal to nations like England and France, which had already banned slavery. The ban allowed slave traders in border states to continue selling slaves to the Confederate states and protected their financial interests in the long term.
The Confederate Constitution ensured the perpetuation of slavery, stating that "in all such territory the institution of negro slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected by Congress and by the Territorial government." This provision allowed slavery to continue as long as and as far as the Confederate States could extend their political reach.
In contrast to the U.S. Constitution, which some have argued was a pro-slavery document, the Confederate Constitution made property in human beings an essential right. While the U.S. Constitution included clauses that addressed slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Compromise and the fugitive slave clause, it also laid the foundation for the eventual abolition of slavery. The Confederate Constitution, on the other hand, sought to protect and expand slavery, making it a central tenet of the Confederacy.
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The Northwest Ordinance
The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not contain the word "slave". However, slavery was a contentious issue during the Constitutional Convention, and the document included references and protections for slavery. The Three-Fifths Compromise, for instance, counted three-fifths of a state's slave population for representation, giving southern states with large slave populations greater political power. The Constitution also prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for two decades and included a fugitive slave clause requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners.
The ordinance also included a bill of rights, protecting religious freedom, the right to a writ of habeas corpus, trial by jury, and other individual rights. Notably, it forbade slavery in the territory, helping to establish the Ohio River as the divide between slave states and free states. This prohibition had significant implications for the political conflicts over slavery in the 19th century, leading up to the American Civil War.
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The Missouri Compromise
The Compromise was a temporary solution to this stalemate. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and, at the same time, admitted Maine as a free state. This was done to maintain the balance between slave and free states in the nation. The legislation was passed by Congress on March 3, 1820, and signed into law by President James Monroe on March 6, 1820.
The Compromise managed to delay the Civil War but also sowed the seeds for it. It was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed slavery north of the 36°30' parallel. The Supreme Court further declared the Compromise unconstitutional in the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision of 1857, stating that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories. These events increased tensions over slavery and contributed to the American Civil War.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, the US Constitution protected slavery. While the word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution, the document included the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted three-fifths of a state’s slave population for representation. This gave southern states with large slave populations more representatives and electoral votes. The Constitution also included the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners.
The US Constitution did not promote freedom for slaves. However, it did not include the word "white" in the phrase "We the People". This was significant because, as Frederick Douglass noted, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America stated that only whites had any rights that the government was bound to respect. Additionally, in the first decades after the ratification of the US Constitution, northern states banned slavery outright or with gradual emancipation schemes.
Slavery officially ended in the United States on February 1, 1865, when President Abraham Lincoln approved the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment abolished slavery and established universal freedom.
