The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Slavery in the United States Constitution

Introduction

Slavery has been with us throughout human history. Whether it be from one tribe enslaving another tribe, conquerors enslaving the conquered, one race enslaving another race, one religion enslaving another religion, one nation enslaving another nation, or a nation enslaving a portion of its population, it has been in existence throughout human history and in all civilizations. It is only in the last two and a half centuries that slavery has been recognized as a moral evil and a violation of the natural rights of a person. Slavery was instituted so that the hard and dangerous necessary labor to build civilizations was performed by those that had no choice. It has been rationalized and apologized throughout history for these reasons.

Slavery had been in the American colonies and the United States from almost its beginnings. It was not constricted to any one Colony or geographical area but existed in all parts of the American colonies. In the Northern colonies, slavery eventually proved to be uneconomical, but in the Southern colonies it became economical. Thus, it continued in the American colonies and the United States. The religious and philosophical enlightenment awaking in the Northern colonies and the northern United States led to the realization of the evils of slavery, while in the Southern colonies and the southern United States the economic hardships of eliminating slavery led them to turn a blind eye to the evil of slavery and make excuses for the continuation of slavery. When making judgments of our history, you should remember my thoughts in my “Condemned to Repeat It” article.

Slavery was antithetical to the ideals of the “Declaration of Independence”, but remained in “The United States Constitution”. This article examines the issue of slavery in the Constitution and its eventual elimination in the United States.

Constitutional Considerations

Slavery in the United States Constitution is a phrase that is often misused, as it was not for the purposes of placing a value upon a person, but for political power within the House of Representatives. The Constitutional Convention era was a tumultuous time in American history. Tumultuously economically due to the burden of debt from the American Revolution, and States trying to protect their economic interests through tariffs and taxes on goods imported from other States. Also, there were threats of United States sovereignty by England, France, and Spain. The many States were on the verge of warfare with other States as a result of these tumultuous times. The Constitutional Convention was called to resolve these issues so that:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The framers of the Constitution were acutely aware of these circumstances and were dedicated to the creation of a government that could resolve these problems. They knew that it was extremely important that they resolve these differences, and they also knew that the question of slavery could prevent the resolution of these problems. They, therefore, decided on a compromise of the slavery issue that would allow the Constitution to be passed and adopted.

The Constitution skirted the slavery issue in two clauses, and never even mentioned slavery in the document. The first skirting was in how to count slaves for the purposes of the number of legislators in the House of Representatives. The second skirting was in how to avoid the slavery issue as the Constitution was being implemented in the first two decades of its adoption. These two skirts, and the reasons for, and consequences of, are as follows.

Counting Slaves

Article. I - Section. 2, Clause 3. of the Constitution 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.”

Representation in the House of Representatives was determined by the number of people residing in the State. The more residents you had, the more Congressmen you had. This was a huge issue for the framers as the Anti-Slavery States want slaves not to be counted at all so that they would have proportionately more members in the House of Representatives where they could try to end slavery. The Pro-Slavery States wanted to count slaves fully so that they would have proportionately more members in the House of Representatives where they could protect slavery. The 3/5ths compromise satisfied no one, but it did allow the Constitution to be passed.

Postponing the Question

The other, indirect, mention of slavery in the Constitution is:

Article I, Section 9. of the Constitution states:

 “The Migration and 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 was worded to prohibit the issue of slavery in Congress from being brought up until the year 1808. The reason for 1808 was to assure that the slavery issue did not become contentious and disrupt the founding, and possible dissolution of the United States due to the slavery issue. They also wished to postpone the issue of slavery until a new generation, as many believed that slavery was a dying institution that would not survive into the new generation. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and other intellectual slaveholders knew that slavery was becoming a financial burden, and they thought it would eventually die off. It was becoming a financial burden as the upkeep of their slaves was costing more than a slave-produced in income. This is a sure and steady way to become bankrupt. In this belief, they were wrong due to unforeseen circumstances.

The Explosion of Slavery

The unforeseen circumstances were in the advancements of Technology and Transportation. Most slaves were utilized for domestic and agricultural purposes. And the agriculture purpose was in food and tobacco crops. Tobacco prices fluctuated considerably, while crops had good and bad years for many reasons, including weather, pestilence, and soil erosion. Cotton was not a major crop, as cotton was difficult to plant, harvest, and gin. Planting and harvesting were a back-breaking and labor-intensive task, while ginning involved removing the seed from the sticky fibers that would be manufactured into cotton, which was a time-consuming task. This ginning process involved taking a picked cotton ball and through manual dexterity popping the seed from the center of the cotton ball. This process only yielded a few cotton balls per minute or maybe a bag of cotton a day. The seed would be placed in a bucket while the fiber was placed in a burlap bag. These bags would then be transported to a river or seaport where they were then be transported to a cotton mill. This transportation was time-consuming and labor-intensive. And all of these tasks were done by slaves. For these reasons, cotton was an expensive product to bring to the market and, indeed, silk from China cost less than cotton. Most people wore woolen garments (which were itchy) while the well-off people trimmed their cuffs with cotton to minimize the itch, or the richer people had silk garments that had no itching.

Navigable rivers and seaports were often distant from the plantation, and the crop had to be transported by horse and wagon over many miles of roads to these rivers and seaports. Roads were few, travel subject to weather conditions, and even at their best, these roads were difficult to travel upon. It could take days or weeks to transport crops to these navigable rivers and seaports, all of which was done by slave labor. The profit obtained from these efforts was marginal, and often due to the fluctuation of market prices for crops, the plantation owner suffered a loss. In all of these efforts, the slaves need to be fed, clothed, and housed, which cost the plantation owner many monies. This is why intellectual slave owners felt that slavery was going to die off.

So, what changed this situation to make cotton very profitable? Two things happened: the invention of the Cotton Gin and the improvements in transportation systems.

The invention of the Cotton Gin mechanized the ginning of cotton. Until the Cotton Gin was invented, the ginning of cotton was done by hand; a very labor-intensive, time-consuming, and inefficient low volume effort. Placing the cotton balls in a hopper, turning the crank, and having the machine separate the seeds from the cotton fibers meant that a large volume of cotton ginning could be done in minutes. The only problem was planting and harvesting the large volume of cotton for the Cotton Gin, and for this effort, large numbers of slaves were required. As the Cotton Gins became bigger and better, you needed more slaves to plant and harvest the cotton. Slavery was now very much needed for cotton production.

This was coupled with the improvement of roads and navigable rivers. To quickly get the cotton to market, road creation and improvements were undertaken. More and better roads were created, which decreased the time it took to transport the cotton crop to navigable rivers and seaports. Rivers were being dredged to make them navigable, and more and better seaports were being constructed. Add to this the construction of canals, and the invention of steamboats and railroads that began in the early 1800s, the transportation costs and times were significantly reduced.

Cotton became King as it was now very profitable. But with those profits came with the need for more and more slaves to plant, harvest, then gin the cotton. The tensions between the Pro-Slavery and Anti-Slavery States rose dramatically. This, and other issues between the North and South, mainly industrial versus agriculture interests, ultimately led us to the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery.

Given the above, you can see why the statement “Blacks are 3/5 of a Human in the Constitution” does not accurately portray the historical context of what occurred.

The Emancipation and the End of Slavery

Many people expected President Lincoln to abolish slavery after he was sworn in as President. However. President Lincoln knew that he did not have the Constitutional power to do so, as the Constitution left the subject of slavery to the States wherein it existed. He was fully aware that the Federal government had the right to decide the issue of slavery in the United States Territories, but that right was constrained by Supreme Court rulings (most notorious in the Dred Scott Case), and other Federal Legislation that dealt with the issues of slavery in the territories.

At the start of the Civil War, President Lincoln’s primary concern was the preservation of the Union, as he so eloquently and emphatically stated in “Lincoln's Message to Congress in Special Session”. There were (false) hopes that the Civil War would be short and that both sides could peaceably resolve their difference and preserve the Union. But the war dragged on and as “Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address” stated:

“Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

At the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln was again ignoring the issue of slavery for the purposes of Union. As the Civil War dragged on, and when it became apparent the South was utilizing slave labor to keep the Confederate Army armed and supplied, as well as providing support services for the Confederate Army, he needed to address the issue of slavery. He became convinced that he had the legal authority, as Commander in Chief, to end this slavery support to help bring the Civil War to a more rapid conclusion. He, thereby, released the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to forewarn the rebellious States of his intent. When the Confederate States ignored his warning, he released the final Emancipation Proclamation, which began the emancipation of the slaves in the rebellious States.

The Emancipation Proclamation, or Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on September 22, 1862, during the Civil War. The full transcript of the Emancipation Proclamation is posted on my Letters and Speeches section of this website. The Proclamation begins:

That on January 1 in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

The Proclamation changed the legal status under federal law of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from slave to free. As soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, either by running away across Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, the slave was permanently free.

On January 1, 1864, the Emancipation Proclamation took effect. However, it did not emancipate slaves in States which fought for the Union cause, nor slaves in Confederate States or territories that were under Union control, as President Lincoln did not have the Constitutional authority to do so, as those States and territories were not under his authority as the Commander in Chief.

It took the passage of the 13^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to end the stain of slavery in America. A passage that the Republican heartily approved, and a passage that the Democrats were in strong opposition (see my article “Slavery and Discrimination rooted in Party Politics“). The entire Amendment reads:

Section 1. 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.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

President Abraham Lincoln fought for the passage of this Amendment before he was assassinated on April 14. 1865. The Amendment was ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865, and proclaimed on December 18, 1854, thus ending slavery in America. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted following the American Civil War that dealt with the lingering effect of slavery, and the attempts of the Democrats in the southern states to institute de facto slavery. These Amendments are discussed in my article, “The Meaning of the 13th through 15th Amendments”.

Thus, the scourge of slavery was ended in the United States forever. However, the era of discrimination and Jim Crow laws began, which ended with the 1954 “Brown v. Board of Education” Supreme Court decision and the passage of the “Civil Rights Act of 1964”.

For a fuller explanation of slavery in the Constitution I would recommend The Heritage Foundation's article "Slavery and the Constitution" by several leading historians and Constitutional legal scholars.