June 29, 2023

Melissa Joseph

US Constitution, chapter 2

Week 1A, Blog 2

The Constitution on Slavery, Freedom, and The Great Compromise

During the development of the Constitution, the conflicts between delegates kept growing their disagreements concerning the authority the Central government might have if they all agreed to be present to revise the Article of Confederation. I would say even though the delegates were ready to be freed from Britain’s rule they wanted to keep their authority to govern themselves as well. Their disagreement about which state is more populous, and small states fear that their value will be undermined. The idea of the meeting was to create a society of law and order, so they had to work together collectively or become independent of the will of the national government.

            Most of the delegates were seeking to protect the rights of individuals from government abuse by giving political rights to all freemen, while others contradict the idea that freedom is what caused the Shay rebellion. The delegate’s concerns about slavery created division,  the north abolished slavery while representatives from the South did not abolish slavery, and feared that the others might try to outlaw the Constitution. Which should not even be a debate if the Constitution protects the rights of all individuals to form a new nation. Thus, a free nation and slavery abolished from all parts is the best way to accomplish it. For this reason, I believe the election of George Washington as the president of the convention was a way to abolish slavery for the last time.

             The state’s disagreement fundamentally compromised the Constitution’s idea of building the United States. Pennsylvania law to gradually abolish slavery, all people born in the states to enslaved mothers would become indentured servants to be set free at the age of twenty- eight. These laws only show the idea of promoting individual rights was not supported by those who were not willing to lose their main resource and guaranteed profit which is enslaved people. This will be proven further in the Tree- Fifths Compromise. Different propositions were made to include enslaved people in the Constitution as part of the population. 5 citizens =5 votes 5 enslaved persons = 3 votes. I disagree with this proposition, more over article I postponed the abolition of the foreign slave trade until 1808, and in the interim, states in slave holding were allowed to import as many enslaved people as they wished. Furthermore, the Constitution placed no restrictions on the domestic slave trade, so residents of one state could still sell enslaved people to other states.