How was the issue of slavery addressed at the Constitutional Convention?
1 Answer
It was outlawed in the earliest versions of the Constitution.
Explanation:
The issue of slavery was a point of contention even before our present government was formed. Most of the northeast states had already abolished slavery with others moving towards that. Every colony of the original 13 had slavery in their earliest days.
Northern leadership recognized that our country would never be formed if making slavery illegal was a part of the Constitution and so they relented. They realized that a strong federal government had to be created first.
A curious notion was placed, and still exists, in the Constitution relative to slaves. The Constitution requires a census be taken every tenth year and that slaves and Indians be counted as three fifths a person each.
