Eleanor Finch
The United States Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not contain the words slave or slavery within its text. However, it dealt directly with American slavery in at least five of its provisions and indirectly protected the institution in others. The Constitution's Three-Fifths Clause, for example, counted three-fifths of each state's slave population towards that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives, giving Southern states more power. The drafters of the Constitution avoided using direct language about slavery due to the stark divide between Northern and Southern states, with the former employing universalistic language affirming freedom and equality, and the latter using restrictive language to limit rights to freemen. The issue of slavery was a major source of tension, and the Constitution's concessions on slavery were made to gain the support of Southern delegates for a strong central government.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Avoided using the words "slave" or "slavery" | The Constitution did not contain the words "slave" or "slavery" within its text |
| Concessions on slavery for support of southern delegates | Framers believed that concessions on slavery were the price for the support of southern delegates for a strong central government |
| Three-Fifths Clause | Article I, 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." |
| Slave Trade Clause | Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 1, prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808 |
| Fugitive Slave Clause | Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, provided that escaped slaves must be returned to their owners |
| Domestic Violence Provision | The government would protect states from "domestic violence," including slave rebellions |
| Popular sovereignty | The idea that the people had the right to decide whether to own slaves |
| Thirteenth Amendment loophole | 19 states with constitutions that explicitly permit either slavery, involuntary servitude, or both as punishment for a crime |
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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 regarding 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 they could elect and send to Congress. Free states, on the other hand, wanted to exclude the counting of slave populations in slave states, as those slaves had no voting rights. The compromise struck was to count three-fifths of each state's slave population toward that state's total population for the purpose of apportioning the House of Representatives. This effectively gave the 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 U.S. Constitution, which 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 has been interpreted by some as relegating black people to "three-fifths of a person" status, a notion that has been criticised as a misrepresentation of the Constitution. While the Compromise did count slaves as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of representation, it is important to note that the Constitution nowhere forbade a coloured man from voting. In fact, by giving an increase of "two-fifths" of political power to free over slave states, the Compromise has been argued to lean towards freedom rather than slavery.
The Three-Fifths Compromise was superseded and explicitly repealed by Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868.
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The Slave Trade Clause
> "The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person."
This clause allowed the importation of slaves by the states for 20 years after the adoption of the Constitution. Notably, it does not explicitly mention the word "slave" or "slavery", reflecting the embarrassment or intention to avoid federal recognition of slavery by the drafters.
The clause's inclusion in the Constitution is often criticised as a contradiction to the ideals of fairness, justice, and individual rights that the document espouses. It is seen as an exception that allowed the continuation of human commodification and racial oppression, despite growing moral qualms about slavery among some Americans influenced by Enlightenment philosophies and religious convictions.
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The Fugitive Slave Clause
The clause was a source of increasing resistance in Northern states during the 19th century, particularly after the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Several Northern states, including Massachusetts, enacted "personal liberty laws" to protect free Black residents from kidnapping and provide procedural safeguards for accused fugitives.
The ambiguity of the clause has been a subject of debate among modern legal scholars. Some argue that its vague wording was a political compromise that avoided explicitly endorsing slavery at the federal level. In contrast, others contend that it effectively entrenched the power of slaveholders.
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The Civil War
The American Civil War was a conflict between the northern and southern states of the United States, fought from 1861 to 1865. The war was primarily fought over the issue of slavery, which was embedded in the economic and political fabric of the United States. The southern states depended heavily on slavery, particularly in agriculture, and were determined to protect it. The northern states, on the other hand, had already abolished slavery and were increasingly calling for an end to the practice nationwide.
In the decades leading up to the Civil War, political tensions rose as abolitionists and proponents of slavery clashed over the admission of new states to the union as slave or free states. The southern states, fearing a loss of economic power, threatened to secede from the union if their interests were not protected. The Compromise of 1850, which admitted California as a free state and granted territorial status to New Mexico and Utah, temporarily eased tensions. However, the publication of the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852, the fighting between pro-slavery and abolitionist forces in Kansas from 1854, and the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which struck down the Missouri Compromise, all served to inflame tensions once more.
The election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860 proved to be the final straw for the southern states, as he opposed the expansion of slavery into the Western territories. In the months following Lincoln's election, the Southern states seceded from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America and precipitating the Civil War. Lincoln himself had predicted this outcome, stating that the "institutions of slavery are unsafe" when "brought into close contact and collision with the institutions of freedom".
During the war, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, which came into effect on January 1, 1863, proclaiming the freedom of slaves in the ten states that were still in rebellion. However, the Proclamation did not apply to slaves in loyal states that had not seceded from the Union or in portions of southern states under Union control. It was only after the war, with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, that slavery was officially abolished in the United States.
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The 13th Amendment and its loopholes
The 13th Amendment, enacted in 1865, was meant to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States. However, it included a significant loophole that allowed slavery to persist in the form of punishment for crimes. The relevant clause states:
> "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."
This exception clause has been referred to as the "criminal-exception loophole," and it had detrimental consequences for Black Americans. After the Civil War, Southern states struggled economically due to the loss of free labor. To compensate, some states began enacting Black Codes, which criminalized minor and frivolous offenses such as vagrancy, loitering, lack of employment, and participating in businesses other than husbandry. This resulted in the imprisonment of thousands of Black individuals, who were then leased out for their labor, often back to the plantations. By 1898, three-quarters of Alabama's state revenue was generated by renting out Black Americans.
The 13th Amendment's loophole led to the proliferation of laws and practices that specifically targeted Black Americans, ensuring a continued supply of forced labor. This form of modern slavery persisted, and some argue it still exists today, with the United States having the highest incarceration rate in the world, and prisoners being compelled to work without pay. The exception clause has been criticized as being contrary to the nation's foundational principles of liberty, justice, and equality, and there are ongoing efforts to close this loophole and truly abolish slavery in all its forms.
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Frequently asked questions
The Constitution did not ban slavery because the framers believed that concessions on slavery were necessary to gain the support of southern delegates for a strong central government. They were convinced that if the Constitution restricted the slave trade, states like South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union.
The Constitution indirectly protected slavery and included clauses that addressed the slave trade. For example, Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1, prohibited the federal government from limiting the importation of "persons" where state governments allowed it, for 20 years after the Constitution took effect. The Three-Fifths Clause also gave Southern states more power in the House and Electoral College by counting three-fifths of each state's slave population towards that state's total population.
No, the word "slave" does not appear in the Constitution. The framers consciously avoided using the word and instead referred to slaves as persons. They believed that slavery was morally wrong and did not want a permanent moral stain on the document.
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