Southern State Delegates

Electoral College Design Leverages Three-Fifths Compromise to Amplify Slave State Power

1787-09-06 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

Constitutional Convention delegates finalize the Electoral College system for selecting presidents, resolving months of contentious debate between those favoring congressional selection and those supporting direct popular vote. The compromise creates an indirect election method where each state …

Constitutional Convention delegates James Madison Southern state delegates Committee of Eleven electoral-college three-fifths-compromise slavery institutional-corruption constitutional-design +1 more

Constitutional Convention Guarantees 20-Year Protection for International Slave Trade

1787-08-25 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

The Constitutional Convention’s Committee of Eleven, chaired by William Livingston of New Jersey, recommends prohibiting Congress from banning slave importation until 1808—initially proposing twelve years but extending to twenty years after southern delegates demand more time. This compromise, …

Committee of Eleven William Livingston John Rutledge Charles Pinckney Roger Sherman +2 more slavery slave-trade constitutional-design institutional-corruption slave-power +1 more

Gouverneur Morris Condemns Slavery as Curse of Heaven at Constitutional Convention

1787-08-08 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 7/10

Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania delivers a powerful moral condemnation of slavery during Constitutional Convention debates over representation, attacking the Three-Fifths Compromise and challenging southern delegates who profess little willingness to end slavery in their states. Morris declares …

Gouverneur Morris James Madison Southern state delegates Pennsylvania delegation slavery constitutional-convention moral-opposition three-fifths-compromise slave-power

Northwest Ordinance Prohibits Slavery While Mandating Fugitive Slave Returns

1787-07-13 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance on July 13, 1787, creating the Northwest Territory and establishing governance procedures for the region between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River (modern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota). Article VI of the …

Continental Congress Nathan Dane Southern state delegates Slaveholders slavery fugitive-slave-clause territorial-expansion institutional-corruption legal-framework +1 more

Three-Fifths Compromise Gives Slaveholders Massive Extra Political Power

1787-07-12 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 10/10

Delegates at the Constitutional Convention reach agreement on the Three-Fifths Compromise, proposed by James Wilson of Pennsylvania and seconded by Charles Pinckney of South Carolina, establishing that enslaved people will be counted as three-fifths of a person for purposes of congressional …

James Wilson Charles Pinckney Gouverneur Morris James Madison Southern state delegates +1 more three-fifths-compromise slavery institutional-corruption electoral-manipulation constitutional-design +1 more