MidLitSoc
Slavery and the U.S. Constitution

Debating Slavery

Black Americans were bought and sold as slaves during the time of the Constitutional Convention.

At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, delegates from each state met to design a new government that would protect the rights of all Americans. But at that time, over 600,000 black Americans were enslaved, with no protected rights at all. The question of how to treat enslaved people in a democracy caused long, powerful, and angry debate at the Convention.

The men who had fought for liberty during the Revolutionary War had many different opinions on slavery. Some believed it was wrong and should be illegal, while others thought it was acceptable. Many were somewhere in the middle. In this situation, coming up with a policy on slavery in the United States was very difficult.

In this lesson, you'll explore how slavery divided Americans into two groups: those who saw slaveholding as a crime against liberty, and those who saw it as part of their right to own property.