Slavery and the US Constitution

Although the US Constitution was written prior to the time period at the beginning of the A2 specification, I think this is a very important topic to know about that is useful for understanding many of the later political issues to arise during the antebellum period 1820-61. 

Slavery and the United States Constitution

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." - From the 1776 Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson

• When the American colonies broke from Britain, the Continental Congress asked Jefferson to write the declaration of independence. In this declaration, Jefferson expressed American grievances and explained why the 13 colonies were breaking away. His words proclaimed the US's ideals of freedom and equality, which today still resonate throughout the world. 

• Yet at the time these words were written, more than 500,000 African Americans were enslaved. Jefferson himself owned more than 100 slaves. Most of these slaves lived in the southern colonies, where they made up around 40% of the population. Many colonists, even slaveholders, claimed to hate the practice. George Washington, who owned hundreds of slaves, denounced slavery as 'repugnant'. But although many of them decried it, southern colonists relied on slavery. The southern colonies were among the wealthiest in the world, and their cash crops of cotton, tobacco and rice depended on slave labour; they were not going to give it up.
• The first US national government said nothing about the issue of slavery. It left the power to regulate slavery, as well as most other powers, to the individual 13 states. After their experiences with the English, the colonists distrusted the political system of having a strong central government. The new national government consisted solely of a Congress in which each state had one vote.

However, this form of government proved to be ineffective. Therefore, it was decided that a new constitution would be written. The outline of the new government was soon agreed to. It would have 3 branches: 

1. The Executive
2. The Judiciary
3. A two-house legislature 

• Dispute arose over the legislature branch. States that had large populations wanted representation in both houses of the legislature to be based on population. States with smaller populations, however, wanted each state to have the same number of representatives. The argument over this issue carried on for months. In the end, the delegates agreed to the 'Great Compromise":                                                                                                                                                                                             One branch, the House of Representatives, would be based on state population. The other, the Senate, would have two members from each state, regardless of population.

• Part of this compromise included an issue that split the convention on North-South lines. The issue was: Should slaves count as part of the population? Under the proposed constitution, population would ultimately determine 3 matters: 

1. How many members each state would have in the House of Representatives. 
2. How many electoral votes each state would have in presidential elections. 
3. The amount each state would pay in direct taxes to the federal government.

• Only the southern states had large numbers of slaves. Counting them as part of the population would greatly increase the south's political power, but would also mean paying higher taxes. This was a price, however, that southerners were willing to pay. They argued in favour of counting slaves, but the Northern states disagreed. Thus, the delegates compromised: each slave would count as 3/5 of a free person. 
• Following this compromise, another controversy emerged: what should be done about the slave trade, the importing of new slaves into the US from Africa? 10 states had already outlawed it, and many of the delegates denounced it. However, the 3 states that did still allow it - Georgia and the two Carolinas - threatened to leave the convention if it were banned. Therefore, another compromise was agreed to: Congress would have the power to ban the trade, but not until 1808. 
• One final major issue concerning slavery confronted the delegates. Southern states wanted Northern states to return escaped slaves back to the south. The articles of confederation adbot guaranteed this. But when Congress adopted the North-West ordinance, within it there was a clause promising that slaves would be returned to their owners. Therefore, the delegates placed a similar fugitive slave clause in the Constitution (this was part of a deal made with New England States: in exchange for the FSC, the New England states got concessions on shipping and trade). 
• These compromises on slavery had a significant impact on the nation in the years to come up to the civil war in 1861. The FSC (enforced through legislation passed in 1793 and 1850 - watch this space for a post on the 1850 compromise, which will include details of the fugitive slave act) allowed escaped slaves to be chased into the north and caught. It also resulted in the illegal kidnapping and return to slavery of thousands of free African Americans. 
• The three-fifths compromise greatly increased southern representation in Congress and the Electoral College, which northerners for years afterwards would hold resentment for. In 12 out of the first 16 elections, a southern slaveholder won. 
• Extending the slave trade up till 1808 brought many more slaves into the US. South Carolina alone imported 40,000 new slaves between 1803 and 1808. So many slaves entered SC that slavery spilled over into the Louisiana territory and took root. 

• Northern states did not push too hard on the slavery issue in the late 18th century. Their main aim was to secure a solid form of republican government in the US. They feared antagonising the south, and additionally, most northerners viewed slavery as a dying institution with no economic future. However, in 1793, Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin, which made growing cotton on plantations - and therefore also slavery - extremely profitable. 
• The Declaration of Independence expressed lofty ideals of equality. The framers of the constitution, however, left critically important questions of real equality and fairness to future generations, a policy which would eventually come to have disastrous consequences for the nation. It would be a very long time before the 'great republic' that they had founded would approach the ideals expressed in the 1776 Declaration of Independence.