Slavery and the Constitution

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This text studies the attitudes of the founding "fathers" toward slavery. Specifically, it examines the views of Thomas Jefferson reflected in his life and writings and those of other founders as expressed in the Northwest Ordinance, the Constitutional Convention and the Constitution itself, and the fugitive slave legislation of the 1790s. The author contends: slavery fatally permeated the founding of the American republic; the original constitution was, as the abilitionists later maintained, "a covnenant with death"; and Jefferson's anti-slavery reputation is undeserved and most historians and biographers have prettified Jefferson's record on slavery.

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This study examines the relationship of the US Constitution and the enslavement of black Americans.

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From abolitionists like Benjamin Rush and John Jay to slaveholders like Washington and Jefferson, slavery presented the creators of the American republic with a profound dilemma. Throughout the period, a growing reform movement stimulated Northern states to emancipate their slaves gradually and prohibit the importation of new ones, but simultaneously entrenched Southern slaveholders and politicians became more dogmatic and defensive as racism triumphed in America. This collection of primary sources, including the complete record of slavery and the Constitiution's ratification, describes the transformation of white America's attitudes toward slavery and freedom from the idealistic beginnings of the Revolution to the harsh realities of postwar depression and nation-building.

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Taking on decades of received wisdom, David Waldstreicher has written the first book to recognize slavery's place at the heart of the U.S. Constitution. Famously, the Constitution never mentions slavery. And yet, of its eighty-four clauses, six were directly concerned with slaves and the interests of their owners. Five other clauses had implications for slavery that were considered and debated by the delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention and the citizens of the states during ratification. This "peculiar institution" was not a moral blind spot for America's otherwise enlightened framers, nor was it the expression of a mere economic interest. Slavery was as important to the making of the Constitution as the Constitution was to the survival of slavery. By tracing slavery from before the revolution, through the Constitution's framing, and into the public debate that followed, Waldstreicher rigorously shows that slavery was not only actively discussed behind the closed and locked doors of the Constitutional Convention, but that it was also deftly woven into the Constitution itself. For one thing, slavery was central to the American economy, and since the document set the stage for a national economy, the Constitution could not avoid having implications for slavery. Even more, since the government defined sovereignty over individuals, as well as property in them, discussion of sovereignty led directly to debate over slavery's place in the new republic. Finding meaning in silences that have long been ignored, Slavery's Constitution is a vital and sorely needed contribution to the conversation about the origins, impact, and meaning of our nation's founding document.

American Historical Review, 1972, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 81-93

Journal of Ethics, 1997, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 291-303

American Journal of Legal History, 1992, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 466-498

Social Research, 1987, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 543-577

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John M. Sacher's history of Confederate conscription serves as the first comprehensive examination of the topic in nearly one hundred years, providing fresh insights into and drawing new conclusions about the southern draft program. Often summarily dismissed as a detested policy that violated states' rights and forced non-slaveholders to fight for planters, the conscription law elicited strong responses from southerners wanting to devise the best way to guarantee what they perceived as shared sacrifice. Most who bristled at the compulsory draft did so believing it did not align with their vision of the Confederacy. As Sacher reveals, white southerners' desire to protect their families, support their communities, and ensure the continuation of slavery shaped their reaction to conscription. For three years, Confederates tried to achieve victory on the battlefield while simultaneously promoting their vision of individual liberty for whites and states' rights. While they failed in that quest, Sacher demonstrates that southerners' response to the 1862 conscription law did not determine their commitment to the Confederate cause. Instead, the implementation of the draft spurred a debate about sacrifice--both physical and ideological--as the Confederacy's insatiable demand for soldiers only grew in the face of a grueling war.

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This work offers a comprehensive study of Louisiana's antebellum political parties and their interaction with the electorate. It provides a grass-roots perspective on the political causes of the American Civil War and confirms the dominant role regional politics played in Louisiana.