Malcolm Rivera
The United States Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not contain the words slave or slavery but made references to slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution. The three references to slavery in the Constitution are the Three-Fifths Clause, the Slave Trade Clause, and the Fugitive Slave Clause. The Three-Fifths Clause 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 and in the Electoral College. The Slave Trade Clause prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808. The Fugitive Slave Clause asserted that a slave who was bound by the laws of their home state remained a slave wherever they went, even if they fled to a non-slavery state.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Clause | Three-Fifths Clause |
| Purpose | Counting slaves for representation and taxation |
| Article | I |
| Section | 2 |
| Clause | 3 |
| Purpose | Allocating Congressional representation |
| Clause | Fugitive Slave Clause |
| Article | IV |
| Section | 2 |
| Clause | 3 |
| Purpose | Determining the status of slaves escaping to another state |
| Clause | Ban on Congress ending the slave trade |
| Duration | 20 years |
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What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Clause
The Three-Fifths Compromise was reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. The slaveholding states wanted their entire population, including slaves, to be counted when determining the number of Representatives they could elect and send to Congress. On the other hand, the free states wanted to exclude the slave population from the count since slaves had no voting rights. The compromise was struck to count three-fifths of each state's slave population toward its total population, effectively giving the Southern states more representation in the House of Representatives and more electoral votes.
The Three-Fifths Compromise is often seen as a concession to the slaveholding states, as it gave them more political power and representation. It is important to note that the word "slave" is not mentioned in the Constitution, and the framers intentionally used terms like "persons" instead. This was because they recognized that slavery was morally wrong and wanted to avoid a permanent moral stain on the document.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was superseded and explicitly repealed by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. However, it is still a controversial aspect of the Constitution, with some arguing that it relegated Blacks to three-fifths of the status of a white person. This interpretation has been disputed, with some claiming that it was a necessary compromise to form a union and preserve the republic while confronting the evils of slavery.
The Three-Fifths Compromise had significant implications for the United States, including the outcome of elections, such as Thomas Jefferson's victory in 1800, which would not have been possible without the Compromise. It also contributed to the tensions between the North and the South, leading up to the Civil War, as it gave more power to the Southern states and delayed the abolition of slavery.
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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. The clause requires that any "Person held to Service or Labour" in one state who escapes to another must be returned to their master in the state from which they fled. The wording is as follows:
> 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 adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Notably, the words "slave" and "slavery" are not used in this clause, similar to other references in the Constitution dealing with slavery. The framers consciously avoided the word, recognising that it would taint the document. Instead, they referred to slaves as "persons".
The clause gave enslavers the right to seize enslaved people who escaped to free states. Under the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Fugitive Slave Clause, the owner of an enslaved person had the same right to seize and repossess them in another state as the local laws of their own state granted to them. This interpretation also meant that state laws that penalised such a seizure were deemed unconstitutional.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was largely nullified by the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery "except as a punishment for crime". Despite this, the clause played a significant role in the lead-up to the Civil War. When South Carolina seceded from the Union in 1860, its declaration heavily emphasised the importance of the Fugitive Slave Clause, accusing Northern states of flagrantly violating it. The Constitution of the Confederate States mentioned slavery by name and contained a more rigid form of the Fugitive Slave Clause.
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Ban on Congress ending the slave trade for 20 years
The US Constitution, in Article 1, Section 9, included a ban on Congress ending the slave trade for 20 years, also known as the Importation Clause. This clause prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808. The framers of the Constitution avoided using the words "slave" or "slavery", instead referring to slaves as "persons". This was due to moral qualms about slavery, as they believed it was wrong and would eventually die out.
The inclusion of this clause was a compromise to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. There was fierce debate at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, with some arguing that the slave trade should be subject to federal regulation, while others threatened that the southern-most states would not join the Union if this occurred. The framers ultimately agreed to delay any potential cessation of the importation of slaves until 1808.
In the intervening years, Congress passed several pieces of legislation to restrict the slave trade. The Slave Trade Act of 1794 prohibited American ships from participating in the trade, and in 1800, an act was passed that made it illegal for Americans to engage in the slave trade between nations. In 1807, Congress passed another act that made the importation of slaves from abroad, even on foreign ships, a federal crime.
Despite these efforts, the domestic slave trade within the United States persisted, and slavery was not abolished until the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution in 1865.
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Slave insurrections
The Constitution of the United States, drafted in 1787, did not contain the word "slave", but slavery was hotly debated during the Constitutional Convention and the document included references and protections for slavery. The word was avoided because the framers of the Constitution believed it to be morally wrong and did not want the document to be sullied.
The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were the price for the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. They were convinced that if the Constitution restricted the slave trade, South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union.
The Slave Insurrection Clause, found in Article I, Section 8, gave the federal government the power to put down domestic rebellions, including slave insurrections. This clause was included due to fears of slave uprisings, which worried white people in slave-holding states, particularly in the early decades of the 19th century. In the event of a slave revolt, federal troops could be sent to fight against enslaved people seeking freedom through violent means.
Luther Martin of Maryland, a slaveholder, argued that the slave trade should be subject to federal regulation since the entire nation would be responsible for suppressing slave revolts. He also considered the slave trade to be contrary to America's republican ideals, stating:
> "It is inconsistent with the principles of the Revolution, and dishonorable to the American character to have such a feature in the constitution."
Another Virginia delegate, George Mason, who owned hundreds of slaves, also spoke out against slavery, saying:
> "Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a country." Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.
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The word 'slave' avoided
The Constitution of the United States, drafted and sent for ratification in 1787, did not contain the word "slave". The framers consciously avoided the word, recognising that it would taint the document. Instead, they referred to slaves as "persons". The Constitution only obliquely referred to slavery and never used the words "slave" or "slavery" because the framers were embarrassed by the institution. Many of them harbored moral qualms about slavery, believing that it was morally wrong and would eventually die out.
The framers' avoidance of the term "slave" is particularly notable in the Three-Fifths Compromise, which provided that three-fifths of each state's enslaved population ("other persons") was to be added to its free population for the purposes of apportioning seats in the United States House of Representatives, its number of electoral votes, and direct taxes among the states. This compromise was a result of the debate over whether enslaved people should be included in the population count toward a state's number of representatives in the House. The southern states argued for their inclusion, while the smaller and northern states protested on political and moral grounds. The Three-Fifths Compromise was added to a national government document for the first time in 1787.
The framers' decision to avoid the word "slave" in the Constitution is also evident in the Fugitive Slave Clause, which provided that slaves held under the laws of one state who escaped to another state did not become free but remained slaves. This clause is another example of the Constitution's oblique references to slavery, as it does not directly mention the word "slave" or "slavery".
Despite the framers' efforts to avoid the word "slave" in the Constitution, it is important to recognise that slavery received important protections in the document. In addition to the Three-Fifths Compromise and the Fugitive Slave Clause, the Constitution prohibited Congress from outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for twenty years. It also gave the federal government the power to put down domestic rebellions, including slave insurrections. These provisions protected and strengthened slavery, even as the framers avoided directly using the word "slave" in the Constitution.
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