Were the Founding Fathers Pro-Slavery?
Slavery and its public policy implications might just be the most controversial debate since the Civil War. From Jim Crow to Brown v. the Board of Eduction, from affirmative action to reverse discrimination, from Confederate monuments to reparations, the drive to correct the damage caused by slavery has divided nearly every generation of Americans. For roughly four score and seven years, national leaders debated the the role of the government in regards to slavery. Was there a national power to regulate it? Was there a national power to affect the expansion of slavery into the west? If there was a national power to regulate the extension of slavery, did it outweigh the property rights of slaveholders? National leaders looked to the Constitution and the Founders for answers.
How can a nation that Lincoln described as "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" co-exist with slavery? Thomas Jefferson recognized the dilemma in his letter to John Holmes. "But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other." Thurgood Marshall described the relationship between slavery & liberty in American Founding as "defective from the start".
So, how about it? Were the Founding Fathers Pro-Slavery or Pro-Liberty? Was the Constitution Pro-Slavery or not?
How can a nation that Lincoln described as "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" co-exist with slavery? Thomas Jefferson recognized the dilemma in his letter to John Holmes. "But as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other." Thurgood Marshall described the relationship between slavery & liberty in American Founding as "defective from the start".
So, how about it? Were the Founding Fathers Pro-Slavery or Pro-Liberty? Was the Constitution Pro-Slavery or not?
* * * Discussion Questions * * *
1. Although the word "slavery" is not actually used in the Constitution, slavery is referred to three times. What wording did the Founding Fathers use instead and what were the three subjects in which slavery was addressed?
2. Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln disagreed as to the intent of the Founders. How did they differ in opinion and what was the evidence?
3. Alexander Stephens and Abraham Lincoln agreed as to the Founders' intent, but disagreed as to whether or not they thought the Founders were correct. Why did Stephens believe the Founders were wrong and how did the Confederacy correct their "error"?
4. How does Jefferson's original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence reveal greater insight into his views of slavery?
2. Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln disagreed as to the intent of the Founders. How did they differ in opinion and what was the evidence?
3. Alexander Stephens and Abraham Lincoln agreed as to the Founders' intent, but disagreed as to whether or not they thought the Founders were correct. Why did Stephens believe the Founders were wrong and how did the Confederacy correct their "error"?
4. How does Jefferson's original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence reveal greater insight into his views of slavery?
Primary Sources
Use the sources below to examine the fundamental arguments centered on the Founding Fathers and the issue of slavery.
Stephen DouglasStephen Douglas, "The Little Giant" with aspirations for the White House, advocated a middle path through the philosophical debates: Popular sovereignty. This would shift the jurisdiction for slavery to the states and the local people themselves. This was a view Lincoln ridiculed as "squatters rights".
Douglas soundly rejected any contention that the Founders included African-Americans in any discussion of equality in either the Declaration of Independence of the the Constitution. "I hold that the signers of the Declaration of Independence had no reference to negroes at all when they declared all men to be created equal. They did not mean negro, nor the savage Indians, nor the Fejee Islanders, nor any other barbarous race. They were speaking of white men." (Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Dalton) Alexander StephensIn a somewhat surprising turn, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens agreed with President Lincoln...to an extent. According the Stephens, the Founding Fathers adhered the principle that "all men are created equal." The problem was, "Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races."
That was why the new Confederate "government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition." |
Abraham LincolnIn response to Stephen Douglas, in February of 1860 Abraham Lincoln explained his interpretation of the Founders' intent regarding slavery. In his speech, Lincoln argued that the power to regulate slavery in the territories clearly fell under the jurisdiction of Congress. But he went further than that.
By examining the the political careers of "the thirty-nine" who signed the Constitution, Lincoln argued that their intent towards slavery was clearly revealed. They supported numerous measures to prevent the spread of slavery to new territories while also providing the necessary framework to eventually extinguish slavery itself. According to Lincoln, the fact the many of the same same Founders approved the Constitution also created the Northwest Ordinance and the ban on slavery importation in 1808 was proof of their intent to provide Congressional control, over the expansion of slavery. Frederick DouglassThe opinions of famed abolitionist and eloquent spokesman Frederick Douglass evolved over the course of his public life. By the time of the Civil War, Douglass spoke of the power contained within the Constitution. The rights and equality long denied to blacks by slavery could only be obtained by the framework and power held within the Constitution.
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The Constitution and Slavery
The word slavery never appears in the Constitution. While many of the debates during the Constitutional Convention revolved around the status of slavery, the Founders carefully avoided any endorsement of slavery while also protecting its current existence. But there ws hope for the future. They left the door open to eliminate the importation of slaves after the year 1808.