2024 New Jersey Revised Statutes Title 39 - Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulation Se"Intersection" means the area embraced within the prolongation of the lateral curb lines or, if none, the lateral boundary lines of two or more highways which join one another at an angle, whether or not one such highway crosses another.ction 39:1-1 - Words and phrases defined.'

 

Historical Context: The Constitution and Slavery

by Steven Mintz

On the 200th anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution, Thurgood Marshall, the first African American person to sit on the Supreme Court, said that the 1788 Constitution was “defective from the start.” While some members of the Constitutional Convention had voiced “eloquent objections” to slavery, Marshall said they “consented to a document which laid a foundation for the tragic events which were to follow.” By “tragic events,” he meant all the cases of abuse and exploitation propagated by the system of slavery.

Was Thurgood Marshall right? Was the Constitution a pro-slavery document? Convention delegate Charles Pinckney certainly thought so when he reported back to the South Carolina House of Representatives that “considering all circumstances, we have made the best terms for the security of this species of property [enslaved people] it was in our power to make.” To fully answer Marshall’s questions, however, we need to look to the Constitution itself.

Despite never being referenced by name, the institution of slavery received substantial protections under the Constitution. These legal and political protections for slavery included

• the three-fifths clause, which counted three-fifths of a state’s enslaved population in apportioning representation. It stipulated that the population of each state should 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.” The three-fifths clause meant that the South had extra representation in the House of Representatives and extra votes in the Electoral College’s process for determining presidents. Counting enslaved people as part of the state population could then influence electoral outcomes. For example, Thomas Jefferson only won the presidential election of 1800 because of the three-fifths clause.
• prohibitions against outlawing the Atlantic slave trade for at least twenty years.

In addition to protecting slavery as an institution, the Constitution upheld slaveholders’ individual claims to enslaved people.

• The Constitution made the federal government responsible for putting down domestic rebellions, particularly insurrections by enslaved people.
• The fugitive slave clause required the return of Black freedom seekers to the slaveholders who claimed them as property.

The framers of the Constitution believed that concessions on slavery were the price for southern delegates’ support for a strong central government. They were convinced that if the Constitution restricted the slave trade, South Carolina and Georgia would refuse to join the Union. But by intentionally refusing to specifically address the legality of slavery in the document, the framers sowed the seeds for future conflict.

After the delegates approved this concession, Madison wrote: “It seems now to be pretty well understood that the real difference of interests lies not between the large and small but between the northern and southern states. The institution of slavery and its consequences form the line of discrimination.” Madison’s assessment was generally correct, but the exceptions to this were numerous and important. These exceptions were so significant that they highlight that there was nothing inevitable about the Constitution’s approach to slavery.

The Constitution’s occasionally convoluted language and the omission of the word “slavery” reflect the diverse and changing ideas of the people who wrote it. Of the fifty-five delegates to the Constitutional Convention, about twenty-five owned enslaved people, but the other thirty had a wide range of views about slavery. Their opinions did not always strictly follow the North and South divide.

George Mason, who enslaved hundreds of people, spoke out against slavery in ringing terms during the convention. “Slavery,” he said, “discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.” Slavery also corrupted slaveholders and threatened the country with divine punishment, he believed: "Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a country.” Mason’s concern was about the economic impact of slavery on free white laborers and the moral impact of slavery on enslavers. Still other delegates were fully in support of ensuring the continued legality of slavery within the Constitution.

Other members of the Constitutional Convention were ambivalent or in the process of changing their minds on the matter. Pennsylvania delegate Benjamin Franklin enslaved several people. He was also a member of an anti-slavery society, would petition Congress to ban slavery in 1790, and in his will freed all of the enslaved people he claimed.

At the Constitutional Convention, one key controversy arose about the future of the Atlantic slave trade. The delegates ultimately settled on a compromise: In exchange for twenty years of guaranteed federal protection to continue the trans-Atlantic slave trade, southern delegates agreed to remove a clause restricting the national government’s power to enact laws requiring goods to be shipped on American vessels (which would have benefited northeastern shipbuilders and sailors).

The same day this agreement was reached, the convention also adopted the fugitive slave clause, requiring the return of Black freedom seekers to their enslavers.

The Constitution might have been permanently tainted by compromises with pro-slavery delegates except for two things: The Constitution created a powerful federal government and included within the Constitution were instructions for how to change and improve what this federal government was required to do. The system for developing amendments that the delegates agreed upon in 1787 was the system through which, in the years immediately after the Civil War, the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments banned slavery and made formerly enslaved people citizens. The Constitution that had at one point protected slavery was ultimately what legally ended it.

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Steven Mintz is a professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin and a pioneer in the application of new technologies to teaching and research.

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This essay was revised in 2025.

Questions for Discussion

Making Observations

1. Begin by looking at the chart. What types of actions did the Constitution allow Congress to take in relation to slavery and enslaved people? What types of actions were forbidden?
2. Why was it in the best interest of northern states if not all enslaved people were counted for purposes of representation in Congress?

Drawing Connections

1. Drawing from the essay, identify two of the conflicts that arose during the Constitutional Convention because of slavery. According to the chart, how were these conflicts resolved?
2. Look closely at the clause that discusses westward expansion and think back to what you’ve learned about the three-fifths clause. Why would westward expansion be a concern for both pro-slavery and anti-slavery delegates at the Constitutional Convention?
3. Read the sections of the Constitution designated by this chart. What language in the Constitution signals a reference to slavery, even when the writers did not use the actual word?

Name	Implications for Enslaved People and the Institution of Slavery
Three-fifths clause: Art. 1, Sec 2	Pro-slavery delegates wanted the enslaved population to be counted at a full 100% because this would give southern states more seats in the House of Representatives. Counting only 60% of the enslaved population toward representation was a compromise.
Transatlantic slave trade: Art. 1, Sec, 9, Cl. 1 and Art. 5	Article 1 ensured the international slave trade would be legal until at least 1808. This protection was bolstered by Article 5, which prevented any changes to Article 1.
Fugitive slave clause: Art. 4, Sec. 2, Cl. 3	This clause guaranteed that Black freedom seekers could legally be captured anywhere in the US, even in northern states that guaranteed freedom, and returned to their enslavers.
Westward expansion of slavery: Art. 4, Sec. 3, Cl. 2	This clause gave Congress the right to make all decisions about whether there would be slavery in western territories.
Revolts: Art. 1, Sec. 8, Cl. 15	This clause empowered Congress to repress enslaved peoples’ revolts.
Abolishing slavery (1865): Amendment 13, Section 1	This amendment bans both slavery and indentured servitude in the United States, except as punishment for a crime.
Citizenship (1868): Amendment 14, Section 1	This amendment establishes birthright citizenship. It guarantees citizenship for freedpeople and their children.

The 14th Amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868. [1]

Secretary of State William Seward officially certified the ratification on July 28, 1868, after three-fourths of the states approved it. [1, 2, 3]

Key Milestones in the Ratification Process

The path to ratification was highly contentious and tied directly to the aftermath of the Civil War: [1, 2, 3]

• Congressional Proposal: Congress passed the amendment on June 13, 1866. [1]
• Southern Rejection: Most former Confederate states initially rejected the amendment. [1, 2]
• Reconstruction Acts: Congress passed laws requiring Southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment as a mandatory condition to regain representation in Congress. [1, 2, 3]
• The Deciding State: Louisiana and South Carolina voted to ratify on July 9, 1868, pushing the total over the required 28-state threshold (out of 37 states at the time). [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

What the 14th Amendment Granted

The ratification fundamentally changed American law by establishing three critical principles: [1, 2]

• Birthright Citizenship: Anyone born or naturalized in the United States is a citizen.
• Due Process: States cannot strip any person of life, liberty, or property without fair legal procedures.
• Equal Protection: States must guarantee equal protection under the law to all people within their jurisdiction. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]