Slavery's Constitutional Address: Founders' Intentions And Legacies

The issue of slavery posed a difficult question for the Founding Fathers, who were born into a slaveholding society and had to navigate the contradiction between the institution and the nation's core values of liberty and freedom. While some founders owned slaves, others were members of anti-slavery societies. The Constitution included clauses that indirectly addressed slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which counted slaves as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes, and the Importation of Persons Clause, which prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of slaves. These clauses reflected a compromise between Northern and Southern states, but also laid the foundation for future conflict. The question of whether the Constitution was a pro-slavery document remains a subject of debate among historians.

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The Three-Fifths Clause

Slaveholding states wanted their entire population to be counted to determine the number of Representatives they could send to Congress. On the other hand, free states wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, as those slaves had no voting rights. 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. This gave the Southern states more power in the House relative to the Northern states.

The Three-Fifths Compromise was proposed by James Madison, who explained the reasoning behind the ratio in Federalist No. 54, "The Apportionment of Members Among the States." Madison argued that slaves were considered both as persons and property, and therefore, the Three-Fifths Compromise was an attempt to balance these two perspectives.

The Three-Fifths Compromise was part of Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. It states: "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 aspect of the Constitution, with some arguing that it relegated Blacks to "three-fifths of a person" status. This interpretation has been disputed by others who claim that the Constitution does not explicitly state this. The compromise was repealed in 1868 by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which provided for the counting of the whole number of persons in each state, excluding untaxed Indigenous people.

The Founders' views

During the era of the Articles of Confederation (1781-1789), the Founders demonstrated an aversion to slavery by prohibiting the importation of foreign slaves to individual states and supporting a proposal to ban slavery in the Northwest Territory. However, these policies served the interests of slaveholders in Virginia and Maryland, who could then sell their surplus slaves at higher prices, and tacitly legitimised the expansion of slavery in the Southwest.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 revealed deep regional differences over slavery, with Southern delegates insisting on protections for slaveholding. The Founders drafted a series of constitutional clauses that acknowledged these differences while requiring all sections of the country to make compromises. The Three-Fifths Clause, for example, granted slaveholding states the right to count three-fifths of their slave population when apportioning the number of representatives in Congress, thereby increasing Southern power in the House of Representatives. This same ratio was used to determine federal tax contributions, increasing the direct tax burden on slaveholding states.

The Founders also agreed to a moratorium until 1808 on any congressional ban against the importation of slaves, allowing individual states to prohibit slave imports if they wished. The inclusion of a fugitive slave clause was designed to encourage the return of runaway slaves. These protections for slaveholding were essential to gaining the support of Southern delegates for a strong central government. By sidestepping the issue of slavery, the Founders laid the groundwork for future conflict, as the institution of slavery would eventually lead to the Civil War.

The economic impact

The Founding Fathers were aware that slavery violated the core American Revolutionary ideal of liberty and natural rights, but their commitment to private property rights and limited government prevented them from taking a bold stance against slavery. The economic interests of the Southern states were prioritised over moral qualms, with John Rutledge of South Carolina infamously stating, "Religion and humanity have nothing to do with this question. Interest alone is the governing principle with nations".

The Constitution included several clauses related to slavery, such as the Three-Fifths Clause, which gave the South extra representation in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College based on their slave population. This further entrenched the economic power of the Southern states. The Fugitive Slave Clause, which encouraged the return of runaway slaves, also protected the economic interests of slaveholders.

The prohibition of foreign slave imports served the interests of Virginia and Maryland slaveholders, who could then sell their surplus slaves at higher prices. This also contributed to the expansion of slavery in the Southwest, as the ban in the Northwest tacitly legitimised it in other regions.

In conclusion, the economic impact of slavery was a significant factor in the Founding Fathers' approach to addressing slavery in the Constitution. The protection of economic interests, particularly those of the Southern states, often took precedence over moral objections to slavery. This had lasting consequences, contributing to the economic, political, and social divide between the North and South, and ultimately leading to the Civil War.

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The role of compromise

One of the key compromises was the "Three-Fifths Clause" in Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution. This clause provided that the apportionment of representatives in Congress would be based on the population of free persons, excluding untaxed Native Americans and "three-fifths of all other persons." The "other persons" referred to the African slaves who made up a significant portion of the population in the Southern states. This compromise enhanced the representation and influence of the slave-holding states in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College.

Another compromise was the "Importation of Persons Clause" or the "Slave Trade Clause" in Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1. This clause prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of "persons" into states that allowed it, for a period of 20 years after the Constitution took effect. This was a concession to the Southern states, where slavery was crucial to the economy, and it allowed them to continue the slave trade. However, individual states were free to prohibit slave imports if they wished, and this clause expired in 1808.

The founding fathers also included a fugitive slave clause in the Constitution, designed to encourage the return of runaway slaves who sought refuge in free states. Additionally, they avoided using the word "slave" in the Constitution, referring to slaves as "persons." This was likely done to avoid the moral stain of slavery on the document and to sidestep the explicit recognition of slavery under federal law.

While these compromises allowed for the formation of the Union and the creation of a strong central government, they also laid the groundwork for future conflicts and tensions over slavery. The compromises strengthened the institution of slavery in the short term, and the founding fathers' failure to take a bolder stand against it contributed to its expansion in the early United States. However, the absence of an absolute constitutional guarantee of slavery's legitimacy also provided an opening for subsequent generations of antislavery campaigners and politicians to work towards its abolition.

Abolitionist opposition

The US Constitution was drafted in 1787, at a time when slavery was a major component of the economy and society in the United States. The Founding Fathers' views on slavery were complex and varied, but many acknowledged that it violated the core American Revolutionary ideal of liberty. Despite this, their commitment to private property rights, limited government, and intersectional harmony prevented them from taking a strong stance against slavery.

The Founders, with the exception of those from South Carolina and Georgia, demonstrated their aversion to slavery during the era of the Articles of Confederation (1781-1789) by prohibiting the importation of foreign slaves to individual states and supporting a proposal to ban slavery in the Northwest Territory. However, these policies served the interests of Virginia and Maryland slaveholders, who could then sell their surplus slaves at higher prices, and tacitly legitimized the expansion of slavery in the Southwest.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 revealed deep regional differences over slavery, with Southern delegates insisting on protections for slaveholding. The resulting compromises included the notorious Three-Fifths Clause, which counted three-fifths of a state's slave population when apportioning representation, thereby increasing Southern power in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. The Constitution also included a moratorium until 1808 on any congressional ban against the importation of slaves, while allowing individual states to prohibit slave imports if they wished.

The language of the Constitution carefully avoided the use of the word "slave", instead referring to persons and imports. This was likely due to the framers' recognition that the word "slave" would sully the document and their belief that slavery would eventually die out. However, this careful language has also been criticized as an attempt to obscure the reality of slavery and avoid addressing its legitimacy under federal law.

The Constitution's ambiguous stance on slavery has been a subject of debate and opposition from abolitionists. Celebrated abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison denounced the hypocrisy of a nation that declared "all men are created equal" while holding millions in bondage. He burned a copy of the Constitution, calling it "a covenant with death and an agreement with hell." Historians have also argued that the Constitution made possible the expansion of slavery in the early United States and enshrined the power of slaveholders and racist ideas in the nation's founding document.

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