Eleanor Finch
The US Constitution did not use the words slave or slavery but included several provisions about unfree persons. The three provisions of the Constitution that refer to slavery are the Three-Fifths Compromise, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, and the fugitive slave clause. These provisions were crucial for securing support from southern states during the ratification of the Constitution, highlighting the contentious nature of slavery in early America. 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. The second provision, known as the Importation Clause, dealt with slavery and was Article I, Section 9, in which the Congress could not ban the slave trade for 20 years. The third provision, the fugitive slave clause, required the return of runaway slaves to their owners.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Three-Fifths Clause | Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3 |
| Importation Clause | Article I, Section 9 |
| Fugitive Slave Clause | N/A |
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What You'll Learn
The Three-Fifths Clause
The Three-Fifths Compromise was reached as a resolution to the dispute between slave-holding states and free states. Slave-holding states wanted their entire population, including slaves, to be considered when determining the number of representatives they could elect to Congress. On the other hand, free states wanted to exclude slaves from the count since they had no voting rights. The compromise counted three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population, effectively increasing the political power of free states relative to slave states.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was repealed in 1868 with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, which stated that representatives shall be apportioned by counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding untaxed Indians. This amendment explicitly superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3, and eliminated the compromise that had been made during the Constitutional Convention decades earlier.
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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 a "Person held to Service or Labour" who escapes to another state must be returned to their master in the state from which they fled. The Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, has rendered the Clause mostly irrelevant.
The exact wording of the Fugitive Slave Clause 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 Clause was adopted at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Notably, the words "slave" and "slavery" are not used in the Clause, similar to other references in the Constitution dealing with slavery. Instead, the Constitution refers to slaves as "persons". This was likely because the drafters of the Constitution believed that slavery was morally wrong and did not want to provide permanent moral stain on the document.
The Fugitive Slave Clause gave slaveholders the right to seize and repossess their slaves in another state. This right was upheld by the Supreme Court, which ruled that state laws that conflicted with this right were unconstitutional. The broad language of the Clause and its enforcement mechanisms enabled the kidnapping of free African Americans, who were then illegally enslaved. This highlighted the systemic abuse enabled by the Clause.
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Slave insurrections
The US Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not contain the word "slave", but slavery was a fiercely debated topic during the Constitutional Convention, and the document included references and protections for the practice. The three provisions in the Constitution that relate to slavery are the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years (the Importation or Slave Trade Clause), and the fugitive slave clause.
Slave revolts took many forms, ranging from plans to overthrow the slave regime to individual acts of sabotage. The sporadic nature of the revolts emanated from a sense of hopelessness, with slaves reacting to immediate situations. The revolts were often localised, with slaves attempting to alleviate a specific problem, such as the liberation of slaves in a particular locality. However, these revolts had a long-range, cumulative effect, contributing to a tradition of resistance that eventually brought about significant changes in the legal rights of African Americans.
One of the most well-known slave insurrections was the Stono Rebellion of 1739, where about 20 slaves, led by a man named Jemmy, provided a painful lesson on the African desire for liberty. The group, which included seasoned soldiers, raided a store, executed the owners, and placed their heads on the front steps. They then moved on to other houses in the area, killing the occupants and burning the structures. As the march proceeded, the number of insurrectionists grew to about 100, carrying banners and shouting "Liberty!". The colonists eventually rallied and killed most of the rebels, with the remaining insurgents fleeing or being captured and executed.
Another notable slave insurrection was the New York City Conspiracy of 1741, where about 1,700 blacks in a city of 7,000 whites appeared determined to fight against their oppression. This plot was uncovered, and whites retaliated with a series of executions and deportations.
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Slave Trade Clause
The Slave Trade Clause, also known as the Importation Clause, is one of a handful of provisions in the original US Constitution related to slavery. It is found in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1, and prohibited the federal government from banning the importation of "persons" (understood to mean enslaved African persons) into states that allowed it, for twenty years after the Constitution took effect.
The clause was a compromise between the Northern and Southern states, reflecting the deep tension between the practice of slavery and the notion in the Declaration of Independence that "all men are created equal". The Southern states relied heavily on enslaved labour for their agricultural economy, and so fiercely protected these provisions. The compromise was ultimately unsustainable, as demonstrated by the Civil War.
The Slave Trade Clause, like other provisions in the Constitution related to slavery, does not use the word "slave" or "slavery". This was likely because the framers of the Constitution believed that slavery was morally wrong and would eventually die out, and they did not want to permanently stain the document. Interpretations of the Slave Trade Clause by constitutional scholars suggest that the framers did not want to suggest that slavery was recognised under federal law, but rather existed as a result of state laws.
The Slave Trade Clause is no longer constitutionally relevant as it expired in 1808. However, it is important to note that it was one of the provisions that gave legal protections to slavery, a practice that contradicted the nation's republican ideals.
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Compromise between states
The three provisions of the US Constitution that refer to slavery are the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, and the fugitive slave clause. However, the Constitution never uses the words "slave" or "slavery", instead referring to slaves as "persons".
These provisions were a compromise between the Northern and Southern states, balancing the interests of slave-holding states with those advocating for abolition or gradual emancipation. They were essential to securing support from Southern states during the ratification of the Constitution, reflecting the deep divisions over slavery that would persist in American politics.
The Three-Fifths Clause, also known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, counted three-fifths of a state's slave population in apportioning representation. This gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College. It was a compromise when creating Congress and determining how slaves were counted for representation and taxation purposes. Some have argued that it gave greater power to the Southern states, but Frederick Douglass believed that it encouraged freedom because it gave "an increase of 'two-fifths' of political power to free over slave states".
The second provision, known as the Importation Clause or the Slave Trade Clause, prohibited the federal government from banning the importation of "persons" (understood to mean enslaved African persons) until twenty years after the Constitution took effect. This was a compromise between Southern states, where slavery was pivotal to the economy, and states where the abolition of slavery had been accomplished or was contemplated.
The third provision, the fugitive slave clause, required the return of runaway slaves to their owners, further entrenching slavery in Northern states.
These provisions reflected a compromise that was ultimately unsustainable, as shown by the Civil War. While they temporarily strengthened slavery, they also created a central government powerful enough to eventually abolish the institution. Proposals to eliminate slavery by constitutional amendment were introduced as early as 1818, but failed to gain significant traction. Tensions between the North and South continued to rise, inflamed by the publication of the 1852 anti-slavery novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin", abolitionist John Brown's 1859 attempt to start a slave revolt, and the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the expansion of slavery into Western territories. The Southern states seceded from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America and beginning the American Civil War.
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