Isabella Carter
The relationship between slavery and the US Constitution is a complex and contentious topic. While the Constitution did not contain the words slave or slavery, it dealt directly with American slavery in several of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution. The Three-Fifths Clause, for instance, counted three-fifths of each state's slave population towards its total population for representation purposes, giving Southern states more power. The Slave Trade Clause, meanwhile, prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808. The Constitution's protections of slavery have been described as its biggest flaw. However, some argue that it also created a central government powerful enough to eventually abolish slavery. The question of whether the Constitution was pro-slavery or anti-slavery remains a subject of debate.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| The word "slave" in the Constitution | The word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution. |
| Framers' views on slavery | Many framers had moral qualms about slavery and some became members of anti-slavery societies. |
| Framers' views on the Union | Framers believed that concessions on slavery were the price for the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. |
| Framers' views on the role of the federal government | Some framers believed that the slave trade should be subject to federal regulation. |
| Framers' views on the role of the states | Some framers believed that the regulation of the slave trade should be left to the states. |
| Framers' views on the role of the people | Some framers believed that the people should decide whether or not to own slaves. |
| The Three-Fifths Clause | This 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. |
| The Slave Trade Clause | This clause prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808. |
| The Fugitive Slave Clause | This clause required that an escaped slave be returned to their owner. |
| The Constitution's impact on slavery | The Constitution created a central government powerful enough to eventually abolish slavery. |
| The Constitution's core values | The Constitution protects democratic governance, liberty, and equality. |
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What You'll Learn
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. The convention addressed the inclusion of slaves in counting a state's total population. This count 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 Three-Fifths 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 North.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. It stated: "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 "other Persons" referred to in this clause were slaves.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was a highly contested issue during the ratification of the Constitution. It gave rise to debates about the moral and systemic evils of slavery, the preservation of the republic, and the societal divide in America. Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, described the Constitution as "defective from the start" due to its concessions to slavery.
In 1868, Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed the Three-Fifths Compromise.
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The Fugitive Slave Clause
The clause had significant implications for Black communities in the North, as it enabled the kidnapping of free African Americans who were then illegally enslaved. The case of Solomon Northup, a free man abducted in Washington, D.C., and enslaved in Louisiana for twelve years, illustrates the systemic abuse that the clause enabled. Despite its constitutional authority, resistance to the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Clause increased in the North during the 19th century, particularly after the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Several Northern states enacted "personal liberty laws" to protect their Black residents from kidnapping and provide procedural safeguards for accused fugitives.
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The Slave Trade Clause
The Clause was a concession to the Southern delegates, who threatened to refuse to join the Union if the Constitution restricted the slave trade. This sidestepping of the slavery issue by the framers of the Constitution left the seeds for future conflict. The Three-Fifths Clause, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population in apportioning representation, gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College.
The Clause expired in 1808, and in that same year, President Thomas Jefferson congratulated Congress on being able to "withdraw the citizens of the United States from all further participation in those violations of human rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending inhabitants of Africa".
Although the Clause is no longer constitutionally relevant, it remains part of the Constitution and so continues to have a cultural and political relevance in the discourse of the morality and profitability of the international trade in human beings.
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The Civil War and slavery
The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 and was primarily catalysed by slavery, especially Southern political leaders' resistance to attempts by Northern anti-slavery political forces to block the expansion of slavery into the western territories. During the war, enslaved people played an active role in their emancipation, with thousands escaping from bondage. The actions of slaves themselves—their desire for freedom—pushed emancipation into a prominent position in the Union's war efforts. As the Union Armies took control of broad areas of land in the Southern United States, slaves' lives underwent great changes. Many slaves were forced to support the Confederacy, working on farms, in factories, and in households. Others escaped to the Union Army, earning their freedom and forcing the United States to develop a uniform policy regarding emancipation.
The market for buying and selling slaves continued during the war, with the average enslaved person sold in Virginia in 1860 bringing $1,500, and a "prime field hand" in New Orleans bringing $1,800. By 1863, the price had risen to $4,000 or $5,000 in Richmond, and $2,500 to $3,500 in Texas. However, the real price of enslaved people declined during the Civil War as the price of enslaved workers did not keep up with inflation. Late in the war, many slave owners recognised the increasing likelihood that slavery would be ended, and evidence suggests they increased their attempts to sell enslaved people.
The Confederate Congress voted to arm African American men as soldiers, and thousands of slaves escaped to join the Union Army, but it is debated how central the issue of slavery was in the mindset of Confederate soldiers. Some scholars argue that slave emancipation was not a primary motivation for Union soldiers either. However, slave insurrection was a constant fear of slaveholders before and during the war, suggesting that slaves' desire for freedom was a significant concern.
On January 31, 1865, the U.S. Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, abolishing slavery throughout the United States. After the war, a narrative of faithful slaves arose in the South, with stories of slaves celebrating the return of soldiers to the plantations. However, racial tensions grew, with the Ku Klux Klan persecuting African Americans and their supporters.
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The 13th Amendment
> "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
> "We have seen the mere distinction of colour made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man."
Despite these objections, slavery received important protections in the Constitution. The Three-Fifths Clause, for example, gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. Slavery persisted despite the Revolutionary War and ratification of the Constitution, and the number of slaves grew through natural increase and imports from abroad.
In 1863, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all persons held as slaves in rebelling states to be "forever free." However, this did not end slavery nationwide, as it only applied to areas of the Confederacy in rebellion and not even to the "border states" that remained in the Union. Lincoln recognised that a constitutional amendment was necessary to guarantee the abolishment of slavery. The 13th Amendment was passed at the end of the Civil War, before the Southern states had been restored to the Union. With its adoption, the United States found a final constitutional solution to the issue of slavery.
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Frequently asked questions
Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, along with many others, believes that the biggest flaw of the United States Constitution is its protection of the institution of slavery.
The original United States Constitution did not contain the words "slave" or "slavery" within its text, but it dealt directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution elsewhere in the document. It took a Civil War and constitutional amendments to eliminate slavery. The 13th Amendment, passed in 1865, finally abolished slavery in the United States.
The Founding Fathers criticized slavery severely. James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution", attacked slavery early in the Convention, stating, "We have seen the mere distinction of colour made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man". Another Virginian, George Mason, who owned hundreds of slaves, feared that slavery brought down ""the judgment of heaven on a country".
