2: The Founding Era (De Jure Slavery)

Before the ratification of the U.S. Constitution of 1789, federal law was silent on the issue of slavery. It was a fact of life and, as a legal matter, completely in the hands of the states. It became a matter of law at the federal level only after the Constitution did not ban it, as many Northerners had hoped, and in fact included instructions on how the issue should be handled going forward.

History teacher Steve Mount, on his educational website usconstitution.net, provides this description of the situation at that crucial moment:

"By the time of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, slavery in the United States was a grim reality. In the census of 1790, there were slaves counted in nearly every state, with only Massachusetts and the "districts" of Vermont and Maine, being the only exceptions. In the entire country of 3.8 million people, 700,000 of them, or 18 percent, were slaves. In South Carolina, 43 percent of the population was slave. In Maryland 32 percent, and in North Carolina 26 percent. Virginia, with the largest slave population of almost 300,000, had 39 percent of its population made up of slaves.

"In the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, there is no mention of slavery. The states were represented in Congress by state, with each state picking its own representatives, so population, which became critical in the future House of Representatives, was not relevant. Also, because fugitive slaves, and the abolition movement, were almost unheard of as late as the 1780s, there is no mention of this issue in the Articles. The closest thing to be found is the Fugitive Clause in Article 4, but even that is more geared toward convicts.

"There was no great movement in America to abolish slavery in the 1780's, when the Constitutional Convention met. To be sure, there were opponents of slavery, on a philosophical level, but the abolition movement did not appear until the 1830's, when the American Anti-Slavery Society was founded with William Lloyd Garrison writing the organization's nascent statement of principles. Prior to the Convention in 1787, many "Founding Fathers" expressed opinions that condemned slavery.

"John Jay, great supporter of the Constitution after its creation and an author of The Federalist wrote in 1786, "It is much to be wished that slavery may be abolished. The honour of the States, as well as justice and humanity, in my opinion, loudly call upon them to emancipate these unhappy people. To contend for our own liberty, and to deny that blessing to others, involves an inconsistency not to be excused."

(snip)

"Slavery is seen in the Constitution in a few key places. The first is in the Enumeration Clause, where representatives are apportioned. Each state is given a number of representatives based on its population - in that population, slaves, called "other persons," are counted as three-fifths of a whole person. This compromise was hard-fought, with Northerners wishing that slaves, legally property, be uncounted, much as mules and horses are uncounted. Southerners, however, well aware of the high proportion of slaves to the total population in their states, wanted them counted as whole persons despite their legal status. The three-fifths number was a ratio used by the Congress in contemporary legislation and was agreed upon with little debate.

"In Article 1, Section 9, Congress is limited, expressly, from prohibiting the "Importation" of slaves, before 1808. The slave trade was a bone of contention for many, with some who supported slavery abhorring the slave trade. The 1808 date, a compromise of 20 years, allowed the slave trade to continue, but placed a date-certain on its survival. Congress eventually passed a law outlawing the slave trade that became effective on January 1, 1808.

"The Fugitive Slave Clause is the last mention. In it, a problem that slave states had with extradition of escaped slaves was resolved. The laws of one state, the clause says, cannot excuse a person from "Service or Labour" in another state. The clause expressly requires that the state in which an escapee is found deliver the slave to the state he escaped from 'on Claim of the Party.' "

RESEARCH EXERCISE

We'll use key developments from this era to begin discussing and practicing academically sound research skills that will serve you in this class and through the rest of your career at HPU and possibly beyond. That means moving away from using mere Google searches and Wikipedia entries. 

However, not wanting to throw out the baby with the bathwater, we can acknowledge that both Google and Wikipedia are helpful tools and valuable resources when doing academic research when they are used in limited and judicious way. For example, NEVER CITE WIKIPEDIA in an academic paper or class assignment.

Instead, you should feel free to use a Wikipedia article as a starting point or launching pad for research. It can be useful in two distinct ways: 1) to quickly introduce you to a topic and spark ideas for further investigation, and 2) to provide references and links to source material to deepen your knowledge and provide more appropriate material for citations.

Another aspect of academic research that we must begin to address and practice is the writing process itself. To begin with, you must take seriously the first Cardinal Rule of academic writing: STOP CUTTING AND PASTING. It's plagiarism, and it will ruin your academic career and perhaps your hoped-for career beyond HPU. You should be aware that many of your professors will use TurnItIn for many, if not most, written assignments. You will get caught.

That said, plagiarism is easy to avoid if  you do two things: learn to paraphrase (i.e., put it in your own words), and learn to cite sources properly. We'll be working on both of those skills throughout the semester, and we'll start with the exercise below.

Instructions: 

1) Working in teams, click on the four links below. They will take you to a Web page and three Wikipedia entries. 

2) Use paraphrasing, not quoting, to create a concise summary of the article. This could be as short as one or two paragraphs. (In academic writing, a paragraph is at least three sentences. A durable paragraph structure would look like this: Topic Sentence. Point 1. Point 2. Point 3.)

3) Now, exam the links and references included in the article. Pick the one you think leads to the most useful and credible material. Briefly describe in a sentence or two why the one you chose added most to your knowledge and why a reader would consider it an academically sound source.

4) Use the guide here — APA Style Quick Guide — to start practicing the style guide that is used for most academic writing at HPU. Don't worry. It doesn't have to be perfect. This is practice.

5) After you're done, send your team's findings to the class e-mail: fys1000smith@gmail.com.

Here are the links:

The Underground Railroad

 

The Missouri Compromise

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Bleeding Kansas

Nat Turner Uprising

 

Mutiny on the Amistad 

 

John Brown's Raid 

 

Founding of The Liberator 

 

Publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" 

 

Kansas Nebraska Act 

 

American Anti-Slavery Society 

 

Election of 1860 

Good Luck!