Simone Lawson
The status of Black Americans at the time of the Constitution was one of slavery and second-class citizenship. Despite the absence of the words slavery, slaveholding, or slave in the original Constitution, Black Americans were considered property and treated as inferior, with no rights that white people were bound to respect. The infamous three-fifths clause valued enslaved persons as three-fifths of free persons. It wasn't until the enactment of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments following the Civil War that Black Americans were freed from slavery, granted citizenship, and given the right to vote.
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What You'll Learn
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
At the time of the US Constitution, Black people in America were considered inferior to White people, and slavery was tacitly enshrined in the document. The original Constitution included provisions such as Article I, Section 2, Clause 3, commonly known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, which detailed how each state's total enslaved population would be factored into its total population count for the purposes of apportioning seats in the House of Representatives and direct taxes among the states.
The 13th Amendment, proposed in 1864 and ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was swiftly ratified by all but three Union states (Delaware, New Jersey, and Kentucky).
The 14th Amendment, proposed in 1866 and ratified in 1868, addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law. It states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens and are entitled to due process and equal protection of the laws. It also eliminated the three-fifths rule and punished states that did not permit male citizens over 21 years old to vote.
The 15th Amendment, proposed in 1869 and ratified in 1870, prohibits discrimination in voting rights based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It granted African American men the right to vote, a significant step towards equality.
Despite the promise of these Amendments, state laws and federal court decisions throughout the late 19th century eroded their impact. It was not until the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, that the full realization of these Amendments was achieved.
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Black Americans as property
At the time of the Constitution, Black Americans were considered property and were not recognised as citizens of the United States. The original Constitution, ratified in 1787, did not include the word "slavery", as the authors "anxiously sought to avoid the admission of expressions which might be odious in the ears of Americans". Instead, Black people were referred to as “articles of merchandise" and were considered “beings of an inferior order". They were thought to be “altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations". This racist ideology justified their enslavement, as it was believed that Black people had “no rights which the white man was bound to respect”.
The Constitution's infamous “three-fifths clause" valued enslaved persons as being worth three-fifths of free persons. This clause led to the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, which were interpreted by the Supreme Court as recognising the "positive, unqualified right" of slave owners over their slaves. While the Constitution helped to end the international slave trade, it did not address the issue of domestic slavery. It would take several amendments and over seventy-five years of struggle for Black Americans to be freed from slavery and recognised as citizens.
The 13th Amendment, enacted in 1865, finally prohibited slavery in the United States. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, guaranteed birthright citizenship and constitutional protection against removal for Black Americans and all people born or naturalized in the country. The 15th Amendment, passed in 1870, granted Black men the right to vote. However, despite these important gains, Black Americans continued to face social and economic segregation, and it would take many more years of struggle for them to secure their full rights as citizens.
In conclusion, at the time of the Constitution, Black Americans were considered property and were denied their basic human rights. It was not until the enactment of several constitutional amendments and a long struggle for civil rights that Black Americans were able to gain their freedom, citizenship, and political power.
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Black males' right to vote
At the time of the Constitution, Black Americans were regarded as inferior and unfit to associate with the white race in social or political relations. Despite this, the Constitution did not contain any explicit mentions of slavery, slaveholding, or slaves. The only references to Black Americans were as property, and it was left to the states to "deal with this race".
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, enacted in 1865, collectively abolished slavery, granted citizenship to Black Americans, and provided Black men with the right to vote. The 14th Amendment, ratified in July 1868, guaranteed Black Americans and all people born or naturalized in the United States constitutional protection against removal. The 15th Amendment, passed by Congress on February 26, 1869, and ratified on February 3, 1870, explicitly granted Black males the right to vote.
The struggle for equality continued for over a century after the 15th Amendment, as African Americans faced social and economic segregation and were often reduced to second-class citizenship under the "Jim Crow" segregation system. During this time, African Americans worked to secure their rights through organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League. It wasn't until 1965, prompted by reports of discriminatory voting practices in Southern states, that President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed the issue of African American disenfranchisement.
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Birthright citizenship
The original Constitution of the United States did not include the words "black" or "white", and there was no explicit mention of slavery. However, the infamous "three-fifths clause" valued enslaved persons as being worth three-fifths of free persons. This clause led to the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850, which were interpreted by the Supreme Court as giving slave owners the right to recover their escaped slaves.
Despite the existence of slavery and its persistence for seventy-five years after the Constitution, the document accommodated profound improvements in the place of the descendants of former slaves in society. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, enacted successively from 1865 onwards, freed all Black Americans from slavery, made them citizens, and provided Black men with the right to vote.
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, guaranteed black Americans and all people born or naturalized in the United States the constitutional right to residence and protection against removal. This was a significant step towards birthright citizenship and combatting the racism that had previously determined who enjoyed constitutional rights. Black activists had long promoted birthright as the standard by which their belonging should be measured.
The 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, granted African-American men the right to vote. However, this was only another step in the struggle for equality, and African Americans continued to face social and economic segregation, as well as political disenfranchisement, for over a century. The Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 legalised "separate but equal" facilities for the races, and African Americans were reduced to second-class citizenship under the "Jim Crow" segregation system.
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Jim Crow segregation system
The status of Black Americans at the time of the US Constitution was one of slavery. The Constitution, as it was originally written, did not grant Black people citizenship. In fact, Black people were considered property under the Constitution, with no rights or protections.
In the years following the Constitution, Black Americans continued to fight for their freedom and rights. The 13th Amendment, enacted after the Civil War, abolished slavery and set Black people free. The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to Black Americans and protected their "right to residence". The 15th Amendment, enacted in 1870, gave Black males the right to vote.
Despite these amendments, Black Americans continued to face discrimination and violence. The Jim Crow segregation system, in place from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century, enforced racial segregation and created a system of second-class citizenship for Black people.
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States that mandated racial segregation in all public facilities, including transportation and schools. The laws were enacted by white-dominated state legislatures, known as Redeemers, who sought to remove the political and economic gains made by Black Americans during the Reconstruction era. The laws were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1896 in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which laid out a "'separate but equal' doctrine for facilities for African Americans. However, in practice, facilities for Black people were inferior and underfunded, and the Jim Crow laws institutionalized economic, educational, political, and social disadvantages for Black Americans.
The system was undergirded by beliefs in White superiority and the need to preserve racial "purity". Violence, including lynchings, was used to enforce the Jim Crow norms and maintain Black people at the bottom of the racial hierarchy. Despite these challenges, Black Americans resisted the Jim Crow system through organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was founded in 1909 and led sustained protests and campaigns against the laws. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s further challenged Jim Crow, with figures like Rosa Parks becoming symbols of resistance. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally overturned the remaining Jim Crow laws, ending legal segregation and discriminatory voting practices.
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Frequently asked questions
At the time of the Constitution, Black people were regarded as "inferior" and unfit to associate with the white race. They were considered property and were not mentioned in the Constitution. Black people were not given the right to vote until the 15th Amendment in 1870.
Yes, there were free Black citizens in many states at the time of the Constitution. Justice Benjamin Curtis stated that the Constitution was not made exclusively by or for the white race.
The Constitution did not include the words "slavery", "slaveholding", or "slave". However, it valued enslaved persons as being worth three-fifths of free persons, which led to the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793 and 1850.
