CONSTITUTION PAPER

Introduction

From the early colonial periods, the US constitution allowed slavery. Slavery was legal and existed as a form of labor. However, slavery was abolished in the Northern States of US between 1775 and 1783 (The Abolition of The Slave Trade U.S. Constitution and Acts, 2012). It was also prohibited by the congress in the Northern territory. The Southern States continued with slavery. Slaves were treated as laborers for the whites and therefore, this brought about racial segregation between the slaves who were blacks from Africa descent with their white counterparts who owned them.

However, after 1800 slavery became popular and spread in the southwest states with the growth of cotton industry. Many slaves were imported from Africa to work in the cotton industry as laborers for the whites. This therefore ushered in a system of free and slave states as some states continued with the trade while others abolished it. In Northern States, some groups denounced slavery as being sinful leading to emergence of anti slavery forces that rejected it and saw it as detrimental to human rights and freedoms. After compromises failed, eleven states came together in 1861 and formed what was known as confederate states. The body comprised of those states that opposed the abolition of slavery. Despite this resentment, the mainstream union set their goal to end slavery in 1862 and only managed to abolish it by 1865 (The Abolition of The Slave Trade U.S. Constitution and Acts. 2012). This was a great success for the union. The owners of the slaves were not compensated even after the slaves were freed.

The major reasons for the abolition of slavery were to ensure that the human rights of all the people and freedoms were accorded to all humans. It was also aimed to ensure that all people regardless of their race were represented in the daily activities of the government and to be in tandem with the requirement of the constitution. Constitution being the supreme law of the land was to be respected and be applied by entire people regardless of their races. The whites therefore treated Africans blacks as their slaves and denied them an opportunity or equal rights like themselves. This treatment did not appeal to some of the whites and Africans who decided to fight for the respect of their rights and equal representation. Many of the blacks were ferried from Africa to work in the agricultural plantations of the whites. The children of the slaves automatically became slaves and therefore lived very difficult lives. The whites who owned the farms paid them low wages and mistreated them. Therefore, there emerged movements that demanded equal representation of all the people of US. To ensure this, the constitution was amended to capture the rights and freedom of slaves. This contributed to the abolition of this awful practice of slavery.

Slavery in the US dominated in their politics since 1770s to 1860s. The issue of slavery was contentious as different people in different areas had different views and opinions about it. It became an important issue in the drafting of the US constitution even after slave trade had been protected for nearly 20 years. To ensure that their rights were upheld and that they gained enough representation, they rebelled against those institutions that did not comply with their demands. For instance, slaves decided to escape from those states that advanced or involved in slavery to non-slave states such as Canada through underground rail. Furthermore, those against slavery used both moral and political platform to agitate for the creation, establishment of free soil states to ensure that slavery was abolished, and that slaves were not mistreated. It is noted that slavery led to a civil war in American, which made it illegal after the adoption of the thirteen amendments of the US constitution.

In the United States, slaves were treated differently depending on conditions in which they worked in, time and places they were. In most instances, their treatment was characterized by inhumanity, brutality, degradation, executions, whippings and rape (Authenticated US Government Information, 2012). Regardless of this harsh treatment, some exceptions did exist to almost every generalization as some of slaves worked as doctors and treated upper class whites while others provided rental services –labour to the whites.

Furthermore, slaves were denied by their states and colonies opportunities to learn to read and write. Forming any group was prohibited as this could threaten or facilitate rebellion or an escape. Therefore, this denial led to increase in illiteracy levels. However, some of the slaves learned through their planters and children’s of the whites as they worked along with them.

Medical care was also restricted. Most slaves were denied accessibility to good medical care. However, they treated themselves with plants and herbs that they used in Africa. Furthermore, religious groupings were also restricted, as the whites feared that such groupings could facilitate communication among them, which could lead to rebellion. Therefore, these and many other restrictions were subjected to the slaves with the aim of subduing their mission of objective of rebelling or rising opposing the way they were treated. Slaves were also treated in such a manner to oppress or suppress them from agitating for their own rights. The whites wanted to continue using them as their laborers in their plantations and farms at cheap labour costs. The constitution at the time had permitted slavery and therefore, they were not protected from the oppression. Many of them were shifted in America to provide this cheap labour.

Slavery had more prevalence in Southern states of US. Even when the US Constitution was drafted in 1787, it had some provisions on slavery. For instance, section 9 of the article permitted importation of slaves in the US. The constitution also prohibited any changes for a period of 20 years and this meant that there were no regulations that were to be done on slave trade. Therefore, article 5 of the constitution protected slave trade until 1808 when it was made illegal (Succession crisis: constitution on slavery “clearly sanctioned” 2012). During the time when slave was permitted, many of the white’s planters imported thousands of slaves from Africa to work on their farms. Furthermore, the constitution was approved by delegates –section 2 of the article was amended to provide protection of slaves in the hands of the whites. The article required that no citizens could help slaves to escape and at the same time the section required that all chattel property in the hand of the slavery be returned to the owners. The effects of this representation increased the power/strength of the southern states in congress for a long period. The southern states increased their population, which impacted positively on their economy and production of food. Furthermore, this contributed to an increase in the amount of federal taxation in the southern states boosting its economy.

In conclusion, it is therefore evident that slavery was rife in America before amendments were made in the constitution. African-blacks were mistreated by the whites planters in their farms. Some of the effects of this include helping to boost the economy of the southern states through cheap labour. It also resulted to increase in federal taxes collected in Southern states.

References

Authenticated US Government Information. (2012). Retrieved from: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CONAN-1992/pdf/GPO-CONAN-1992-10-14.pdf

Succession crisis: constitution on slavery “clearly sanctioned”. (2012). Retrieved from: http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/secessioncrisis/constitutiononslavery.html

The Abolition of the Slave Trade U.S. Constitution and Acts. (2012). Retrieved from: http://abolition.nypl.org/print/us_constitution/