Slavery in the Constitution: 3D Gallery

Slavery in the Constitution

Though the word is never mentioned, there are several places within the Constitution in which slavery is either directly protected, or protected indirectly.

This is the infamous compromise reached during the Constitution Convention - 3/5th Compromise. This allowed the slave states to count three-fifths of their slave population for the purpose of determining representation in Congress. This allowed southern states to maintain significant political presence in the decades leading up to the Civil War.

Image: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/three-fifths-clause-united-states-constitution-1787

Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 1

This clause directly deals with the slave trade in the United States, though the world slave is never used. Under this clause, the "the migration or importation of such Persons..." shall not be prohibited by Congress until (January 1) 1808. This bars Congress from outlawing the slave trade until this date. Though Congress did do this in 1808, the sale and trade of slaves within the United States was allowed to continue until the issue finally came to a deadly decision in 1860 with the onset of the Civil War. The United States emerged from the Civil War battered, bruised and slave-less, but not whole.

Image: http://usslave.blogspot.com/2011/01/internal-slave-trade-us-ca-1830.html

Article IV, Section 2, Paragraph 3

The "Fugitive Slave Clause" - slaves who escaped into the freedom of the North were required to be sent back to their owners in the South. Over the course of the next couple of decades, this clause will be strengthened in order to appease Southern slave holders. Though some in the North will abided by this law, many will not, increasing tensions between the North and the South.

Image: http://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/fugitive-slave-act-of-1850.html

Mr. and Mrs. Andrews

Mr and Mrs Andrews is an oil on canvas portrait of about 1750 by Thomas Gainsborough, now in the National Gallery, London. [more]

Article V

officially proposed by a 2/3rd vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate (or by 2/3rds of all state Legislatures)
Then ratified (approved) by 3/4th of the states.

The most important part of this Article however, in relationship, at this point in US history, before the Civil War, is that this Article explicitly dictates that no amendment be proposed barring the slave trade before 1808.

Image from: https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-process-of-amending-the-constitution.html

Article V Section 1

All states must recognize the laws, recordings and court rulings of the other states.

This is an indirect support of slavery, for the time being. When the Supreme Court, the supreme law of the land, upholds the institution of slavery, all states must abide by its rulings. This will cause resentment amongst abolitionists, pride amongst slave holders and the ides within the south that abolitionists are not just anti-slavery, but anti-southern too. A dangerous outlook to assume.

Image: http://www.pbs.org/tpt/constitution-usa-peter-sagal/equality/dred-scott-v-sandford/

Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 15

Congress has the right to call out the militia in order to defend the nation from an attack or rebellion. This is an indirect support of slavery. As the Constitution gives the Federal Government permission to send military personal out to put to an end to protests of slavery if they fear the protests would turn violent.

Image from: https://libcom.org/history/1619-1741-slavery-slave-rebellion-us

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Slavery in the Constitution