Eleanor Finch
The Constitution of the United States, drafted in 1787, did not contain the word slave, but slavery was hotly debated during the Constitutional Convention. The document included protections for slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Compromise, which gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. 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 also thought that slavery would eventually die out. However, slavery was a deeply entrenched institution in the South, and attempts to abolish it led to the Civil War. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1865, officially ended slavery in the United States.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| The word "slave" was not included in the Constitution | The word "slave" was intentionally omitted from the US Constitution, despite the document's references to and protections for slavery. |
| Fugitive slave clause | The Constitution included a fugitive slave clause, requiring the federal government to return escaped slaves to their enslavers. |
| Three-fifths clause | The Three-fifths clause gave additional representation in Congress and the Electoral College to Southern states with a large slave population, creating an imbalance of political power. |
| Compromises on slavery | The framers of the Constitution made concessions on slavery to gain support for a strong central government, believing slavery would eventually die out. |
| Abolitionist opposition | Abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison and Thurgood Marshall criticized the Constitution as pro-slavery and defective, respectively. |
| Civil War impact | The Civil War ended slavery in the US with the ratification of the 13th Amendment, demonstrating how the Constitution's creation of a central government enabled abolition. |
| Founder's intent | The Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson, criticized slavery as a violation of natural rights, indicating their intent to ultimately abolish it. |
| Confederacy's stance | The Confederacy's Constitution was rooted in inequality, with freedom and rights exclusively for whites, in contrast to the US Constitution's broader principles. |
Explore related products
What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Clause
The Three-Fifths Compromise was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. It pertained to the inclusion of slaves in a state's total population. This number 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 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 Northern states.
The three-fifths number did not come from a belief that enslaved people were three-fifths human, but 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. However, it was added to a national government document for the first time 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.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) later superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed the compromise.
Obama's DACA Dilemma: Unconstitutional or Humanitarian?
You may want to see also
Fugitive Slave Clause
The Fugitive Slave Clause, also known as the Slave Clause or the Fugitives From Labour Clause, was a clause in the United States Constitution that required enslaved people who fled to free states to be returned to their enslavers. The clause was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and was part of the compromise reached by the convention regarding the slave trade and commerce.
The clause, which can be found in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the 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."
This meant that even if an enslaved person escaped to a free state, they could still be legally returned to their enslaver. The federal government was tasked with enforcing this rule, and additional fugitive slave laws were passed in the 19th century to strengthen it.
The Fugitive Slave Clause was controversial and was accused of being a pro-slavery measure that prioritised the interests of slaveholders over the freedom and rights of enslaved people. It was also seen as a compromise that allowed for the creation of a strong central government while sidestepping the issue of slavery. The clause was not fully repealed until the start of the American Civil War in 1861 when General Benjamin Butler refused to return fugitives to slavery in the Confederacy. The ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865 officially ended slavery in the United States, rendering the clause irrelevant.
New Constitution, Conservative Governance
You may want to see also
The Confederacy's Constitution
The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not contain the word "slave". However, slavery was hotly debated during the Constitutional Convention, and the document included references and protections for the practice. The Three-Fifths Compromise, for example, gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. The Constitution also included a fugitive slave clause, which required the federal government to enforce the return of escaped enslaved people to their enslavers.
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America, established in 1861, took a starkly different approach. While it appealed to justice, liberty, and divine guidance, it enshrined inequality and freedom for whites only. The Confederate Constitution stated, "No law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed," effectively making the ownership of slaves an essential right for white people. This stood in stark contrast to the principles of the US Constitution, which sought to put "slavery in the course of ultimate extinction."
The framers of the US Constitution had also grappled with the issue of slavery, and some had strong objections to the practice. However, they ultimately chose to sidestep the issue, believing that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. By doing so, they laid the foundation for future conflict. As Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice, noted, the Constitution was "defective from the start" due to its failure to address slavery explicitly.
The Civil War, which ended in 1865 with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, officially abolished slavery in the United States. This marked a significant shift towards equality and justice, rejecting the Confederacy's Constitution and its defence of slavery.
Constitutional Linguistics: National Languages in Law
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Compromises and concessions
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 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, states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union.
The Three-Fifths Compromise, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, gave southern states extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. This compromise, which was first introduced in a national government document in 1787, created the "Slave Power" in the legislature, making it easier for southern states to pass favourable bills in Congress.
The convention also agreed to a fugitive slave clause, which required the federal government to return escaped slaves to their enslavers. This clause was enforced by the federal government and was not repealed until 1861, the first year of the American Civil War.
The Constitution also gave the federal government the power to suppress domestic rebellions, including slave insurrections. This power was a response to fears among white people in slave-holding states about potential slave uprisings, which increased in the early 19th century.
While the Constitution included protections for slavery, it also created a central government with the power to eventually abolish the institution. The framers of the Constitution, many of whom owned slaves, had moral qualms about slavery. Some, like Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became outspoken advocates for abolition.
The Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney acknowledged in 1857 that the prevailing idea at the time of the Constitution was that African Americans "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." However, he also believed that the Founding Fathers considered slavery a "violation of the laws of nature" and an "evil they knew not well how to deal with."
The Selective Service: Its Constitutional History
You may want to see also
The Civil War
The infamous three-fifths clause, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, gave southern states extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. This "Slave Power" in the legislature allowed pro-slavery bills to pass more easily in Congress. The Fugitive Slave Clause, meanwhile, required the federal government to return escaped enslaved people to their enslavers, and federal troops could be used to suppress slave revolts.
The Constitution's failure to address slavery and its protection of slavery in certain respects led to increasing tensions between the North and the South. The election of Abraham Lincoln, who believed that the government could not endure as half slave and half free, further fuelled southern fears of slave emancipation. The southern states' secession and formation of the Confederacy, with a constitution rooted in white supremacy, marked the beginning of the Civil War.
Citing South Africa's Constitution: A Quick Guide
You may want to see also
Frequently asked questions
The US Constitution did not contain the word "slave", but it included references and protections for enslavement. The Three-Fifths Compromise, for example, gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. The Constitution also included a Fugitive Slave Clause, which stated that a slave who was bound by the laws of their home state remained a slave even if they fled to a non-slavery state.
Many of the Founding Fathers criticised slavery and some, including Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton, became members of anti-slavery societies. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote a scathing attack on slavery, calling it "a cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people". However, of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about 25 owned slaves.
On September 22, 1862, in the midst of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all 3.5 million African American slaves living in the secessionist Southern states were free. However, this did not end slavery across the nation. The 13th Amendment, passed at the end of the Civil War, officially abolished slavery in the US and was ratified on December 6, 1865.
