The Us Constitution's Stance On Slavery

The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, included several clauses related to slavery, despite the word slave never being explicitly mentioned. Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1, known as the Importation of Persons Clause or the Slave Trade Clause, prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of persons, which was understood to refer primarily to enslaved African individuals. The Three-Fifths Clause in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 provided that representation in the House of Representatives would be based on the population of free persons, excluding untaxed Native Americans, and counting three-fifths of slaves. The Fugitive Slave Clause in Article IV, Section 2 ensured the return of fugitive slaves to their owners. These clauses reflected the compromise between Northern and Southern states, with the latter relying heavily on slavery as a pivotal component of their economy. The 13th Amendment, passed in 1865, eventually abolished slavery in the United States, demonstrating a shift in political sentiment and a rejection of the institution of slavery.

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The US Constitution does not use the word slavery

The US Constitution does not use the word "slavery". However, it does contain clauses that refer to the practice of slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, the Fugitive Slave Clause, and the Slave Trade Clause. These clauses reflect the compromise between Northern and Southern states that was necessary for the ratification of the Constitution and the formation of the Union.

The Three-Fifths Clause, found in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, provided that apportionment of representatives would be based on the population of free persons, excluding "Indians not taxed" and "three-fifths of all other persons." The "'other persons'" referred to the African slaves who made up around a third of the population of the Southern states. This clause gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College.

The Fugitive Slave Clause, found in Article IV, Section 2, provided for the return of fugitive slaves from the North back to the South. This clause 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 Slave Trade Clause, or the Importation Clause, found in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1, prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of "persons" where state governments allowed it, until 20 years after the Constitution took effect. This clause was a compromise between the Southern states, where slavery was a vital part of the economy, and the states where abolition had been achieved or was being considered.

The absence of the word "slavery" in the Constitution has been interpreted in various ways. Some suggest that the drafters were embarrassed or wanted to avoid suggesting that slavery was recognised under federal law. Others argue that the framers wanted to avoid sullying the document with a mention of slavery, recognising that it contradicted the ideals of liberty and equality.

Despite the absence of the word "slavery", the Constitution provided important protections for the practice. The compromise between the states, reflected in these clauses, ultimately proved unsustainable, leading to the Civil War.

The Three-Fifths Clause

The Three-Fifths Compromise, also known as the Constitutional Compromise of 1787, was an agreement reached during the 1787 United States Constitutional Convention. It was an attempt to resolve the impasse between free states and slave-holding states. The former wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, as those slaves had no voting rights. The latter wanted their entire population, including slaves, to be considered when determining the number of Representatives a state could elect and send to Congress.

The Three-Fifths Compromise counted three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population. This number was then used to determine how many seats a state would have in the House of Representatives, how many electoral votes each state would be allocated, and how much money the states would pay in taxes. This effectively gave Southern states more power in the House relative to the North.

The Three-Fifths Compromise is part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution:

> Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

The Three-Fifths Compromise has been interpreted in different ways. Some see it as a way to support the notion that slaves were considered only three-fifths of a person. Others argue that it was a statistical designation used to determine the number of representatives for Southern states. The word "slave" or "slavery" does not appear in the clause or anywhere in the unamended Constitution. However, the compromise did grant slave-holding states the right to count three-fifths of their enslaved population when determining representation in Congress, leading to perpetual overrepresentation in national politics.

In 1868, Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed the Three-Fifths Compromise.

The Fugitive Slave Clause

The clause gave constitutional legitimacy to slavery, and formed the basis for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which gave slaveholders the right to capture enslaved people who had escaped to free states. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 further strengthened the enforcement of the clause, requiring that escaped slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The Act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves.

There was resistance to the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Clause in the Northern states, particularly after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Several Northern states enacted personal liberty laws to protect free Black residents from kidnapping and provide procedural safeguards for accused fugitives. This resistance led to legal challenges, such as the case of Ableman v. Booth in 1859, where the Supreme Court ruled that states could not obstruct federal enforcement of the clause.

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The Slave Trade Clause

The absence of the word "slavery" in the Slave Trade Clause has been a subject of debate and speculation. Some argue that the drafters were too embarrassed to use the word, while others suggest they wanted to avoid implying that slavery was recognised under federal law. The specific language of the clause, referring to the "importation of persons," has also been scrutinised. This wording was intentionally vague, as explicitly naming slavery or the importing states was thought to be offensive to some.

Despite the expiration of the Slave Trade Clause in 1808, it remains a part of the Constitution and holds cultural and political relevance. It serves as a reminder of the morality and profitability of the international trade in human beings and the complex history of slavery in the United States.

Another clause related to slavery is the Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2), which states that escaped slaves must be returned to their masters. This clause was also significant in the discourse on slavery and the rights of enslaved persons.

The Slave Insurrection Clause

The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, included several clauses that directly or indirectly addressed slavery, even though the document itself never used the word "slave". One of these clauses is often referred to as the "Slave Insurrection Clause". While I cannot find a direct reference to a clause with this name, there are several clauses that refer to insurrection and rebellion, and these were used to justify the suppression of slave rebellions.

Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1, known as the "Importation of Persons Clause", is one of the provisions in the original Constitution related to slavery. This clause prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of "persons" where state governments allowed it, for 20 years after the Constitution took effect. This was a compromise between Southern states, where slavery was crucial to the economy, and other states where slavery had been or was being abolished. While this clause does not specifically refer to slave insurrection, it implicitly acknowledges the Southern states' dependence on the importation of enslaved people and could be interpreted as an attempt to prevent unrest or insurrection in those states by ensuring a continued supply of enslaved labour.

The "Three-Fifths Clause" in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3, provided that the apportionment of representatives would be based on the population of free persons, excluding "Indians not taxed" and "three-fifths of all other persons". The "other persons" referred to were African slaves, who made up a significant proportion of the Southern states' population. This clause gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College, which again could be seen as an attempt to appease the Southern states and prevent insurrection or rebellion.

The "Fugitive Slave Clause" in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, required that runaway slaves be returned to their owners, even if they had escaped to a state where slavery was not allowed. This clause further strengthened the institution of slavery and made it easier for slave owners to retrieve their "property", reducing the likelihood of successful slave rebellions.

Additionally, the Constitution gave the federal government the power to put down domestic rebellions, which included slave insurrections. This power was likely intended to address the concerns of the Southern states and ensure their support for a strong central government. By avoiding direct references to slavery and including these concessions, the framers of the Constitution may have believed they were preventing future conflict. However, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice, criticised the document on its 200th anniversary, saying it was "defective from the start" and had "laid a foundation for tragic events".

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