Constitution Entrenches Slavery Through Three-Fifths Compromise and Multiple Protections

The Constitutional Convention concludes its work by approving a Constitution that entrenches slavery through multiple provisions despite deliberately avoiding the word “slave” in the document. The most notorious provision is the Three-Fifths Compromise, proposed by delegate James Wilson and seconded by Charles Pinckney, which counts enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for purposes of congressional apportionment and taxation. This compromise dramatically amplifies Southern political power by allowing slave states to count 60 percent of their enslaved population—people with no voting rights or legal personhood—toward representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College votes. The Constitution also includes the Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV, Section 2) requiring return of freedom seekers to enslavers, prohibits Congress from banning the international slave trade until 1808 (Article I, Section 9), and grants the federal government power to suppress domestic insurrections including slave rebellions.

The Three-Fifths Compromise fundamentally distorts democratic representation by giving slaveholders extra political power proportional to the number of people they enslave. As James Madison acknowledged on July 19, 1787, the need to protect slaveholder interests was “a primary objection to having presidential elections directly by the people,” leading to the Electoral College design that magnified slave state influence. The provision proves decisive in presidential elections: Thomas Jefferson would have lost the election of 1800 without the Three-Fifths boost, and in 12 of the first 16 presidential elections a Southern slaveholder wins. The compromise increases Southern representation by approximately 40 percent compared to counting only free populations, giving slave states control over federal policy far beyond their free population share and enabling them to block antislavery legislation for decades.

The constitutional entrenchment of slavery represents institutional corruption at the founding: the nation’s fundamental governing document is deliberately designed to protect and amplify the political power of a slaveholding minority. South Carolina delegate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney brags to his state legislature about the Fugitive Slave Clause: “We have obtained a right to recover our slaves in whatever part of America they may take refuge, which is a right we had not before.” The framers’ decision to avoid explicitly naming slavery while building multiple protections for it into constitutional architecture demonstrates conscious awareness of the institution’s immorality combined with unwillingness to confront slaveholder power. Approximately 25 of the 55 convention delegates own enslaved people, and they prioritize political unity over human rights by creating a federal structure that gives slaveholders veto power over national policy. This constitutional capture enables what will become known as the “Slave Power”—Southern slaveholders’ ability to dominate federal government despite being a demographic minority—and creates structural barriers to democratic accountability that require a Civil War to overcome. The Constitution thus embeds a fundamental contradiction: a government “of the people” designed to protect the interests of those who deny personhood to millions.