Isabella Carter
The United States Constitution's stance on slavery has been a subject of debate throughout US history. While the original text of the Constitution did not contain the words slave or slavery, it directly addressed American slavery in several provisions and indirectly protected the institution in other parts of the document. The Three-Fifths Clause, Fugitive Slave Clause, and the prohibition on Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for 20 years are a few examples of how the Constitution dealt with slavery. The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. The issue of slavery persisted despite the Revolutionary War and the ratification of the Constitution, and it eventually led to the Civil War. During and after the Civil War, slavery was ended constitutionally through the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| The word "slave" or "slavery" in the Constitution | The original United States Constitution did not contain the words "slave" or "slavery" within its text. |
| Constitution's stance on slavery | The Constitution dealt directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution elsewhere in the document. |
| Three-Fifths Clause | The Three-Fifths Clause (Article I, section 2) gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. |
| Fugitive Slave Clause | The Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2) required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. |
| Slave Trade Clause | The Slave Trade Clause (Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1) prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of "persons" where the existing state governments saw fit to allow it, until some 20 years after the Constitution took effect. |
| Thirteenth Amendment | Passed at the end of the Civil War, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States. |
| Abolition of slavery | Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that as of January 1, 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State shall be free. |
| Constitution pro-slavery or anti-slavery | There have been disputes throughout US history about whether the Constitution was pro-slavery or anti-slavery. James Oakes writes that the Constitution's Fugitive Slave Clause and Three-Fifths Clause were pro-slavery, but there was also an anti-slavery Constitution. |
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What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Clause
The Three-Fifths Compromise, or the Three-Fifths Clause, was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. It was a compromise between the Northern and Southern states over the inclusion of slaves in 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.
The Southern, slaveholding states wanted their entire population to be counted to determine the number of Representatives they could elect and send to Congress. The Northern, free states 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. This gave the Southern states more power in the House relative to the Northern states.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was also used to determine the federal tax contribution required of each state, thus increasing the direct federal tax burden of slaveholding states. The three-fifths ratio originated with an amendment proposed to the Articles of Confederation on April 18, 1783, which suggested that taxes "shall be supplied by the several colonies in proportion to the number of inhabitants of every age, sex, and quality, except Indians not paying taxes".
The Three-Fifths Compromise was part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) later superseded this clause and explicitly repealed the compromise. It provides that "representatives shall be apportioned... counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed".
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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 was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and was in effect until 1865. The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which abolished slavery, rendered the clause moot.
The clause, which is Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution, 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 Fugitive Slave Clause gave slaveholders the right to seize and reclaim enslaved people who had escaped to another state. The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which abolished slavery, has made the clause mostly irrelevant.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was a significant issue during the Civil War, with South Carolina's secession convention heavily emphasizing its importance and accusing Northern states of violating it. An attempt to repeal the clause during the Civil War failed.
It is important to note that the words "slave" and "slavery" are not used in the Fugitive Slave Clause, in line with the Constitution's avoidance of explicitly mentioning slavery.
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Abolitionist criticism
The US Constitution, despite being a document that laid the foundation for a new nation with expanded liberty and equality, has been criticised for its role in perpetuating and protecting slavery. The Constitution's failure to explicitly address slavery and its compromise with the Southern states have been contentious issues, with some arguing that it laid the groundwork for tragic events.
One of the main criticisms of the Constitution is its indirect approach to slavery. The framers of the Constitution consciously avoided using the word "slave", recognising that it would tarnish the document. Instead, they included provisions that protected and perpetuated slavery without directly addressing it. This indirect approach has been criticised for obscuring the true nature of the institution and hindering efforts to abolish it.
The Three-Fifths Clause, also known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, is a notorious example of how the Constitution protected slavery. This clause counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, giving the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and additional votes in the Electoral College. This effectively gave political power to slaveholders, as slaves were considered property and increased their representation without granting any rights to the enslaved people themselves.
Another criticism is the Fugitive Slave Clause, which required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. This clause, found in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, states that "no person held to service or labour in one state...escaping into another, shall...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 provision made it difficult for enslaved people to escape their captivity and find freedom, as they could be legally returned to their owners even if they fled to a different state.
Furthermore, the Constitution prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years after its enactment. This delay in addressing the slave trade allowed it to continue and expand, with slaves being imported and held as property in the American colonies for over a century. The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of the Southern delegates and maintain a strong central government. However, by sidestepping the issue, they laid the groundwork for future conflicts, as the institution of slavery and its consequences became a dividing line between the Northern and Southern states.
In conclusion, while the Constitution created a central government with the potential to eventually abolish slavery, it also included provisions that protected and perpetuated the institution. Abolitionists, both black and white, played a crucial role in bringing attention to slavery and demanding change. Their efforts, along with the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, ultimately led to the abolition of slavery in the United States.
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The Missouri Compromise
The legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, ensuring that the balance between slave and free states in the nation was maintained. This was achieved by linking the two states' petitions for statehood, with Maine's admission being conditional on Missouri entering the Union as a slave state. The Compromise also included a provision that excluded slavery from the remaining lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°30' parallel, which was the southern border of Missouri.
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The Thirteenth Amendment
The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery across the nation as it only applied to areas of the Confederacy in a state of rebellion. It did not apply to the "loyal" border states that remained in the Union, nor did it apply to the slave-owning areas of Kentucky and Delaware, and to a limited extent, New Jersey.
The United States Constitution did not previously expressly use the words "slave" or "slavery" but included several provisions about unfree persons. The Thirteenth Amendment provided a final constitutional solution to the issue of slavery.
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Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution did not contain the words "slave" or "slavery" within its text, but it dealt directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution in others. The Three-Fifths Clause, Fugitive Slave Clause, and Slave Trade Clause are examples of provisions that supported slavery.
Yes, the US Constitution also had anti-slavery provisions. For example, Congress was granted the power to make "all needful rules and regulations" for the territories, and the Preamble states that the purpose of the federal government was to "secure the blessings of liberty".
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 invention of the modern cotton gin in 1793 changed this, as it provided a more sustainable and economically viable crop for the South.
Yes, the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, passed at the end of the Civil War, abolished slavery in the United States forever.
On the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, said that the Constitution was ""defective from the start" because it laid the foundation for tragic events by leaving out a majority of Americans when it wrote "We the People". Abraham Lincoln contended that the American Founding and its Constitution put slavery "in the course of ultimate extinction".
