Course/Grade Level: 5th Grade
Lesson Title: Did the Constitution Make Slavery Legal?
Teacher: Dawn Granath
1. Set Induction: Have students look at the Constitution in the back of their text
book or a copy which has been provided. Break the Constitution into sections and
have students look for the word slavery or slave. If they find the word, they are to
raise their hand.
2. Aims/Objectives and Standards:
IL.16
GOAL: Understand events, trends, individuals and movements shaping the
history of Illinois, the United States and other nations.
IL.16.A
STANDARD: Apply the skills of historical analysis and interpretation.
3. Procedures, Assessments and Materials Required:
Discuss with students if they believe that the US Constitution said that slavery was
legal. Show the students the three areas that slavery is discussed yet its not explicit
in its legality. Why did the writers of the Constitution not plainly say that slavery
was legal? Discuss with the students that one reason it was not explicitly stated is
because not everyone agreed with the practice, yet in order to get the Constitution
agreed upon, they had to hide the legal practice in the wording of the document.
1. The 3/5 clause which says that an enslaved person will only count as 3/5 of a person in
the census.
2. Ban on middle passage slave trade.
3. Fugitive slave clause which says any slave who runs away automatically has to be
returned to its owner
The first indication of slavery in the Constitution appears in Article I, Section 2. This is the threefifths clause that explains the apportionment of representation and taxation. It reads:
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be
included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by
adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a term of
years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other Persons.
Thus this clause explains that the number of persons in each state, for the purpose of
representation and taxation, is to be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons
three fifths "of all other Persons" The phrase " free Persons" is followed by an explanation that in
addition to free citizens, all people bound to service for a term of years, such as an indentured
servant, are also included in the total number for representation. Indians, which are not taxed, are
excluded from the population to be represented.
http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/respub/v6n1/boyd.html
The next mention of the institution of slavery in the Constitution is found in Article I, Section 9.
Once again it is not mentioned by work, but it is implied. This section deals with issues of
importation and taxation of the slave trade. It reads:
The Migration and Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think
proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight
hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten
dollars for each Person.
This is a clause which must be carefully read and analyzed. It implies much more than a mere
surface reading will bring to attention. First, the phrase "Migration and Importation of such
Persons" implies the slave trade. Goods may be called imports, but if people are referred to as
imports, it can mean nothing other than slavery. "e;States now existing" can mean only the
original thirteen colonies which were already established at the ratification of the Constitution.
This clause could not pertain to any states formed after the Constitution was established.
Therefore, any territories that were later created could not participate in the importation of slaves.
Also, the phrase "shall think proper to admit" implies that the states are free to choose to import
slaves. http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/respub/v6n1/boyd.html
The next reference to slavery in the Constitution is found in Article IV, Section 2. This is the
fugitive-slave clause which reads:
No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or
Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom Service or Labour may be due.
This clause explains that no person held in service (which implied slavery) or labor in one state,
and under that state’s laws, can escape into another state and be relieved of his services. Even if
a slave escapes to a free state with laws prohibiting slavery, he still must be returned to his
rightful owner to whom he owes his services in the slave state. He is still a slave no matter where
he is, as long as he belongs to his master. This point would later be discussed in the opinion of
the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision. This clause "…became the basis for the more
notorious kind of federal intervention in behalf of the institution." It provided for the enforcement of
returning slaves anywhere in the Union to their rightful master.
http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/respub/v6n1/boyd.html
4. Resources and Scholarship:
http://www.ashbrook.org/publicat/respub/v6n1/boyd.html
5. Conclusion/Lesson Wrap-up: Working in groups, have students list five reasons
why the South wanted to keep slavery or create a wanted poster that might have
appeared in the North about a run away slave.
6. Language Arts and Math Articulation (for 5th grade teachers only): Reading,
working in groups, students writing a list.