The Necessary Evil That United The Colonies. Slavery Is

The framers had never mentioned “slaves” and “slavery” in the Constitution, and this behavior showed the reluctance of framers to include the slavery in the Constitution. In Article I, Section 2, the Constitution noted: “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

Since nowhere was the government given the power to get rid of slavery, that power belonged to the state, and the people. In these ways the constitution provided those in favor of slavery with a strong argument.

After Independence from Britain, the southern and northern sections of the United States began to separate as they aged, mainly due to conflicts of interests. Even during the creation of the Unites States constitution, the founding fathers debated slavery. Slaves were considered 3/5ths of a person when regarding representation based on population. This lessened the amount of seats southern states would hold in the House of Representatives, lessening their influence on political matters before the civil war. The Northerners had a heavier influence on laws, leading to the passage of laws in their favor. The Northern section of the United States of America became focused on manufacturing while the southern sections became dependent on agriculture, mainly cash crops harvested by slave labor. Although the States rights versus Federal rights conflict played a role in the cause of the Civil War, a major contributing factor was the institution of slavery and how it should be implemented in the United States.

The slaves were however, able to observe and follow the conflict that was developing among the colonists and the British. The slaves and the supporters of their freedom petitioned the colonial legislatures to extend the same rights to the slaves that the colonists claimed as natural rights of all men in their disputes with congress. Unfortunately while there were many in the colonies that supported the abolitionist movement, the political necessities of keeping the

This angered the Union, consequently making the issue bigger. Those in the North who had never seen a slave and didn’t particularly care about the topic, educated themselves more because of such tension over whether the Confederates were allowed to even leave or not. Many got their arguments in order; slaveholding was regressive when compared to the advances the North was making. Essentially, slavery was inefficient and made little sense. Another argument was that slavery was a sin; this view would be the reason why many joined the Civil War. Though it was overall agreeable for Northerners during the Civil War that slavery was an immoral practice. It degraded humans to animals that could be bought and sold for a price, it tore families apart, forced people, even children, to work all day and whenever called upon while living in poor conditions. But perhaps the most important bit to this argument, was that in the Declaration of Independence, it was clearly written, “all men are created equal”. If all men are equal, then why did the white man own the black man? When did the very piece of paper that gave America a meaning to patriotism suddenly become irrelevant when talking about the issues that made us a free country? Ignorance is bliss, but at this time in history, it was bliss no

In 1787 representatives from twelve of the thirteen states met in Pennsylvania for a constitutional convention. Delegates voiced great concern over the protection of individual liberties and personal property. For southern delegates one of the most important liberties was the right to own slaves. While they wanted a federal government that would protect their rights, they did not want a governing body that would emancipate their slaves. There was a notation that the pursuit of happiness was tied to property. As strongly as people might adhere to the notion of liberty and freedom, they adhere just as strongly to the notion of property.

Although Abraham Lincoln wanted to free African American slaves and thought slavery was wrong he did not believe they should have the same social and political rights. The mid 1800s was a time that separated the black and white race immensely. The northern states and the southern states of the United States was divided on the issues of slavery among other reasons which led to the civil war. The civil war was the beginning of struggling African American slaves journey to freedom with the help of Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Slavery in the northern states never reached the severity in most plantations that it did in the South, and it was common knowledge that being a slave in the South was, in a way, more harsh than the North, leading to a much larger number of slaves being held captive in southern states. Many people in the southern states used biblical passages to justify slavery and said that if slavery was abolished there would be unquestionable chaos and unemployment. Despite all of the people that did not think that slavery was wrong, one man stood and took the blunt of the judgement by the people named Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln viewed slavery as wrong, but knew that the nation’s founding fathers struggled with how to address the issue of slavery. There were several ideas on how abolish slavery during the 1800s, including colonization and the Emancipation Proclamation, but these ideas were not introduced into law because the general public

At this time it seemed that the issue of slavery was the only problem in the United States, almost as if a slave was being forced down the throats of the freesoilers (Document F). Stephen Douglas drafted the Kansas-Nebraska Acts in hopes of adding two new states: Kansas and Nebraska. Although it seemed that one would be a slave state, and the other a free state, the slavery issue would be decided by popular sovereignty. Many opposed this decision but did not know how to deal with it. The reason they did not know was because the Constitution did not mention it. William Lloyd Garrison said “the Constitution which subjects them to hopeless bondage is one that we cannot swear to support” (Document E). He was trying to say that the constitution can’t answer the question of slavery because the words “slave” and “slavery” are not in the constitution.

Just as Northerners saw flaws in the Constitution, Southerners viewed it not to be perfect as well. President James Buchanan, a northern man with southern sympathies clarified, “As sovereign states, they and they alone, are responsible before God and the world for the slavery existing among them” (Document G). However, In Doc B, an anonymous writer defends the state’s rights that the constitution should protect slavery where it exists. The union will fall apart unless these rights are protected.

There were many different points made by the people that thought that slavery was a necessary for America, which included fear, religion, legality, and even economics. Many people in the south knew that their considerable market remained to be slaves, so if slavery happened to be abolished the economy would haul a massive hit and the people in the south were not having that. Slaves were people that the white man was able to manipulate and throw away as easily as a toy, subsequently because of that they would never get rid of it. Many conditions could have stopped slavery, but there were countless obstacles that made it persist for a remarkably long time.

Between 1776 and Constitutional Convention in 1787, ten out of thirteen states banned the importation of slaves from abroad. At the same time, Massachusetts already abolished slavery, Pennsylvania and Connecticut passed legislation for their former slaves. Scholars basically describe the discussion regarding slavery at the Convention as a conflict between “anti-slavery representatives” and “slave state representatives.” In addition, the word “slavery” does not appear on the Constitution because the framers consider it would sully the document. However, slavery received crucial protection in the Constitution. One of the most notorious slavery-related questions was whether slaves would be counted as a part of the population in determining representation in the United States Congress or considered property and thus, have no right to representation. Besides, delegates from states with larger population of slaves claimed that slaves should be considered persons in determining representation. Finally, delegate James Wilson proposed the Three-Fifths Compromise, which was eventually adopted by the convention. The compromise claims "all other persons" as only three-fifths of their actual numbers reduced the power of the

There was no significant desire among most delegates to abolish slavery during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. In addition, the focus of the convention was on forming a more perfect union, not dealing with the issue

The primary reason slavery was so difficult to abolish was that the economy relied heavily upon it. In 1607, the “starving time” negatively affected the colonists. They needed a new crop to grow, and they found it in Tobacco. After it was successfully sent to England in 1617, the Colonists ultimately decided that they needed labor to sustain production. They first thought of having the Indians work for them, but the Colonists would be too outnumbered by the Indians, and the Indians also knew the land better. After seeing that one million slaves were used in South America and Spanish Territories, they felt that African slaves would best meet their economic needs. Another economic reason was that the Slave trade was very profitable and played a role in the “triangular trade” that shaped the economy of this time. There was such an opportunity for profit that slaves “were packed aboard

“The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible.” - OSCAR WILDE, The Soul of Man Under Socialism

In 1787, delegates arrived in Philadelphia to begin work on revising the Articles of Confederation. Most states agreed that the Articles had not provided the country with the type of guidelines that it needed to run smoothly. There were many things missing, and many issues that needed further consideration. One of the most controversial topics at the Constitutional Convention was figuring out the country's policy towards slavery. When all was said and done, slavery was still legal after the Convention because the southern economy depended on it and because most people decided that this was an issue that should be decided by each individual state, rather than the country as a whole.