Isabella Carter
The question of whether the US Constitution was pro-slavery or pro-union is a highly debated topic. On the one hand, the Constitution included clauses that protected slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, and the fugitive slave clause. These concessions were made to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government and avoid the formation of separate free and slave confederacies. On the other hand, some argue that the Constitution was pro-union because it created a central government powerful enough to eventually abolish slavery. Additionally, the framers of the Constitution believed that slavery was morally wrong and would disappear, and they avoided explicitly mentioning slavery in the document. The debate over the interpretation of the Constitution's stance on slavery continues to provoke controversy.
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What You'll Learn
The Constitution's avoidance of the word 'slavery'
The United States Constitution did not expressly use the words "slave" or "slavery" but included several provisions about unfree persons. The Constitution's avoidance of the word "slavery" is a highly contested topic.
Some argue that the avoidance of the word was a deliberate attempt to sidestep the issue of slavery, which left the seeds for future conflict. For instance, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, said on the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution that it was "'defective from the start' because it laid a "foundation for the tragic events which were to follow".
On the other hand, some argue that the avoidance of the word "slavery" was an attempt to put slavery in the course of ultimate extinction. In the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Abraham Lincoln argued that the Framers avoided any specific mention of slavery because they did not want the enduring Constitution to suggest that "such a thing as negro slavery had ever existed among us". Similarly, Frederick Douglass, in his speech "The Constitution of the United States: Is it Pro-Slavery or Antislavery?", emphasised the Constitution's use of the phrase "We the People" instead of "We the White People".
The Constitution included several provisions that implicitly recognised slavery and protected the rights of slaveholders. The Three-Fifths Compromise, Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, allocated Congressional representation based on "the whole Number of free Persons" and "three-fifths of all other Persons". This clause was a compromise between Southern and Northern politicians who had differing views on how enslaved African Americans should be counted for representation. The Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3) provided that slaves who escaped to another state did not become free but remained slaves. This clause was intended to protect the rights of slaveholders by requiring the return of runaway slaves to their owners.
Despite these provisions, some members of the Constitutional Convention voiced objections to slavery. James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution", attacked slavery early in the Convention, stating that it was a "ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man". Another Virginian, George Mason, feared that slavery brought down "the judgment of heaven on a country". These statements suggest that while the Constitution avoided using the word "slavery", some of its framers recognised the immorality of the institution and desired its eventual abolition.
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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, given that 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.
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Fugitive slave laws
The Fugitive Slave Acts were a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the United States. The first Fugitive Slave Act was enacted by Congress in 1793. It was written with the intent to enforce Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, which required the return of escaped slaves. This clause, known as the "Fugitive Slave Clause", stated that "no person held to service or labour" would be released from bondage if they escaped to a free state. The 1793 Act authorized local governments to seize and return escapees to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was met with widespread criticism and resistance, particularly from Northern states. Many argued that the law was tantamount to legalized kidnapping and that it turned their states into a "stalking ground for bounty hunters". Some Northern states passed "Personal Liberty Laws", which mandated a jury trial before alleged fugitive slaves could be moved and protected free Blacks from being illegally captured and sold into slavery. In response to the weakening of the original Fugitive Slave Act, Democratic Senator James M. Mason of Virginia drafted the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which added more provisions regarding runaways and imposed harsher punishments for interfering in their capture. This Act required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to the slave owner and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate. Law enforcement officials were required to arrest people suspected of escaping enslavement on as little as a claimant's sworn testimony of ownership, and habeas corpus was declared irrelevant. The Act contributed to the growing polarization of the country over the issue of slavery and was one of the factors that led to the start of the American Civil War.
The Fugitive Slave Acts were among the most controversial laws of the early 19th century and have been interpreted as a pro-slavery stance of the United States Constitution. However, others argue that the Constitution was not inherently pro-slavery, but rather that it was a compromise that created a central government powerful enough to eventually abolish slavery. Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, said on the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution that it was "defective from the start" due to its concessions to slavery, but that these concessions were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government.
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The Constitution's protection of slavery
The Constitution of the United States has been the subject of much debate regarding its stance on slavery, with some arguing that it was a pro-slavery document. While the Constitution did not explicitly mention slavery or use the word "slave", it contained several clauses that protected the institution of slavery and gave power to slaveholding states.
One of the most notable clauses related to slavery in the Constitution was the Three-Fifths Clause, which stated that slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a person when determining representation and taxation in Congress. This clause gave greater power to the southern states, as it effectively increased their political representation relative to the free states. The Three-Fifths Clause has been interpreted as implying that slaves were considered less than fully human, and it has been used as evidence that the Constitution was pro-slavery.
Another clause related to slavery in the Constitution was the Importation Clause, also known as the ban on Congress ending the slave trade. This clause prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years after the adoption of the Constitution. By including this clause, the framers of the Constitution ensured that the slave trade would continue to be legal for two decades, protecting the economic interests of slaveholding states.
The Fugitive Slave Clause, or the fugitive slave clause, was another aspect of the Constitution that protected slavery. This clause required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, making it difficult for slaves to escape their enslavement. The framers of the Constitution included this clause to maintain order and suppress slave revolts, but it ultimately served to uphold the institution of slavery.
In addition to these specific clauses, the Constitution also gave the federal government the power to put down domestic rebellions, including slave insurrections. This further solidified the protection of slavery as an institution, as it allowed the government to suppress any attempts by enslaved people to fight for their freedom.
While there were members of the Constitutional Convention who objected to slavery on moral grounds, the framers ultimately made concessions to slavery in order to maintain a strong central government and avoid the threat of separation between free and slave states. They believed that the creation of a powerful central government would eventually lead to the abolition of slavery, but in the short term, their compromises protected the institution of slavery and the interests of slaveholding states.
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The intentions of the framers
The Constitution itself does not use the words "slave" or "slavery", and the framers deliberately avoided explicit mentions of slavery. This was because they believed that slavery was morally wrong and would eventually disappear, and they did not want the permanent moral stain of slavery on the document. They referred to slaves as "persons", and there were four clauses that indirectly addressed slavery and the slave trade.
The framers made a compromise with slavery because they sought to achieve their highest goal of a stronger Union of republican self-government. They believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. The free states would have lost all influence over the slave states to end slavery if they had separated.
Some members of the Constitutional Convention, such as Luther Martin of Maryland, a slaveholder, argued that the slave trade was contrary to America's republican ideals and should be subject to federal regulation. On the other hand, John Rutledge of South Carolina responded forcefully that "religion and humanity have nothing to do with this question" and that interest alone governs nations.
The specific clauses of the Constitution related to slavery included the Three-Fifths Clause, which stated that slaves were considered less than fully human for representation and taxation purposes. The Importation Clause prohibited Congress from banning the slave trade for twenty years. The Fugitive Slave Clause required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, and the Constitution gave the federal government the power to put down slave insurrections.
While the framers may have hoped that the Union they created would ultimately lead to the extinction of slavery, they also laid a foundation for future tragic events related to slavery. By sidestepping the issue, they left the seeds for future conflict. The Constitution temporarily strengthened slavery, but it also created a central government powerful enough to eventually abolish it.
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Frequently asked questions
The Constitution prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for 20 years, and included a fugitive slave clause that required the return of runaway slaves to their owners. It also gave the federal government the power to put down domestic rebellions, including slave insurrections. However, it's important to note that the Constitution never used the words "slave" or "slavery", and some argue that it was created with the hope that slavery would eventually be abolished.
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln, resulted in the emancipation of a substantial percentage of slaves in the Confederate states. It also allowed for the enrollment of freed slaves into the United States military. While it did not make slavery illegal, it committed the Union to ending slavery.
The former slave Frederick Douglass noted that the framers of the Constitution purposefully avoided mentioning slavery directly. 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 mentioned "We the People". Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, argued that the framers avoided specific mentions of slavery because they believed it would eventually disappear.
