History 135 (Slavery)

Constitutional Clauses on Slavery

(All drafted 1787; slave trade banned 1808) Provisions in the U.S. Constitution that dealt with slavery without using the word “slavery.”

• Three-Fifths Compromise (1787): Enslaved people counted as 3/5 of a person for representation and taxation.

• Fugitive Slave Clause (1787): Required escaped enslaved people to be returned.

• Slave Trade Clause (1787): Congress could ban the international slave trade after 1808, which it did.

Understanding of How Slavery Developed (17th–19th Centuries)

(Institutionalization: 1600s–1700s, Cotton expansion: after 1793 (cotton gin), Height of slavery: 1820s–1860)

Slavery evolved from a flexible labor system to a rigid, race-based institution.

• 17th century (1600s): Mixed labor (indentured servants + enslaved Africans); slavery not yet fully racialized.

• 18th century (1700s): Slavery became legally permanent and hereditary; major growth in the South with tobacco, rice, indigo.

• 19th century (1800s): Expansion driven by cotton and the cotton gin; slavery became central to the Southern economy and political conflicts.

Development of Anti- and Pro-Slavery Arguments

(1830s–1860, leading to the Civil War) Competing moral, political, and economic justifications used in the 1800s.

• Pro-slavery: Claimed slavery was “a positive good,” essential for the economy, supported by racial theories, and sanctioned by the Constitution and the Bible (according to its defenders).

• Anti-slavery:

  • Gradualists wanted slow emancipation or limits on spread.

  • Abolitionists (like Garrison, Douglass) demanded immediate end based on human equality and natural rights.

Popular Sovereignty vs. Higher Law

(Major debates occurred during 1840s–1850s)

Two opposing ideas about who should decide the future of slavery in the territories.

• Popular sovereignty: Settlers in each new territory would vote on whether to allow slavery (championed by Stephen Douglas).

• Higher law: Idea that slavery should be restricted or banned because moral principles and natural rights are above any majority vote (supported by abolitionists and some politicians like Seward).

Lincoln–Douglas Debates

(1858) A series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas during the Illinois Senate race. Focused mainly on slavery’s expansion, popular sovereignty, and moral vs. legal arguments about slavery. Lincoln lost the race but gained national attention.

Dred Scott v. Sandford

(1857) Supreme Court decision declaring that African Americans could not be U.S. citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories. Dred Scott sued for freedom after living in free territory; the Court ruled against him, inflaming sectional tensions and helping push the nation toward the Civil War.