The Constitutional Status of Africans

The Preamble explains the purpose of the Constitution.

• 6 responsibilities of government are listed in the Preamble.

Article II

• The President

• This article is all about the President

In simple terms, the president holds power. The president holds office for a four-year term. The Vice President also has a four-year term; they are elected together.

Article III

• The Supreme Court

• This article talks about the power of the Supreme Court

The Judicial power is given to the U.S. Supreme Court, the lower courts are created by the Congress. Judges could serve as long as they wanted as long as they were well-behaved.

Article I, Section 2, Paragraph 3

• Free people counted as 1 person.

• Slaves would be ⅗ of a person.

• They chose this fraction for representation.

Example:

1,000 free people

1,000 enslaved people (counted as 600 people total since each enslaved person is ⅗ of a person)

1,600 total people.

• They didn’t end slavery in the South because there were more representatives from the South due to a larger population.

• More population = more representatives from that region.

The importation of Africans as slaves would end on January 1, 1808

 1808

-1787

    21 years to import as many slaves before it became illegal.

Slaveocracy - a political and social institution based on slavery

Senate Seats:

Democrat: 47

Republic: 53 Republican Control as of the 2024 elections.

Constitution

• The United States Constitution, drafted in 1787, did not explain or define citizenship.

• The Naturalization Act of 1790 set the initial rules on naturalization: “free, White persons” of “good character” who had been residents for two years or more.

• This law excluded Native Americans, Indentured servants, Free blacks, and Asians.

• The 1790 Act was superseded five years later by the Naturalization Act of 1795, which changed the residency requirement to five or more years. That citizenship could only be granted to free white persons of “good moral character.”

Yellow Fever - 1793

• Yellow fever is a viral disease that begins with fever and muscle pain.

• Victims often become jaundiced as their livers and kidneys cease to function normally.

• Internal bleeding in the digestive tract causes bloody vomit. Many victims become delirious before dying.

• By the middle of October, around 100 people were dying from the disease daily.

• Eventually, a cold front eliminated Philadelphia’s mosquito population and the death toll fell to 20 per day by October 26.

The U.S. enacts the first fugitive slave law - 1793

• Congress passed the first fugitive slave law, requiring all states, including those that forbid slavery, to forcibly enslave people who had escaped from other states to their original owners.

• Several Northern states even enacted measures prohibiting state officials from aiding in the capture of runaways or from jailing the fugitives.

Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney

• Eli Whitney was born on December 8, 1765, in Westborough, Massachusetts.

• In 1792, after graduating from Yale College (now Yale University), Whitney headed to the South.

• While there, Whitney learned about cotton production.

• The cotton gin (“gin” was derived from the “engine”), worked something like a strainer or sieve.

• Smaller gins could be cranked by hand; larger ones could be powered by a horse and, later, by a steam engine.

• Whitney received a patent for his invention in 1794.

Cotton Gin’s Impact on Slavery

• It helped strengthen slavery in the South.

• It helped planters earn greater profits.

• Cotton farmers acquired more slaves.

Haitian Revolution (1791 - 1804)

• The Haitian Revolution has often been described as the largest and most successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere.

• In The 18th century, Saint Domingue, as Haiti was then known, had become France’s wealthiest overseas colony, generating more revenue for France than all 13 North American colonies for Great Britain.

• Five distinct sets of interest groups

1. White planters–who owned the plantations

2. Petit Blancs, who were artisans, shopkeepers, and teachers

The Louisiana Purchase (1803)

• The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubled the size of the young Republic.

• The U.S. Senate ratified the purchase, and in December 1803 France transferred authority over the region to the United States.

• Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explored the territory acquired by the Louisiana Purchase.