Slave Trade Compromise

An agreement during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 protecting the interests of slave owners by forbidding Congress the ability to tax the export of goods from any State, and, for 20 years, the power to continue on with the slave trade.

The Slave Trade Compromise stated that Congress couldn't ban the slave trade until 1808. It was done so that the Constitution would be accepted by the slave states. If the Constitutional Convention had banned the slave trade, the southern states would probably not have consented to the Constitution.




 The slavery compromise-flaw in the Constitution took form in 3 separate places in the document. Let us have a look at the clauses:

Art. I, Sec. 2, Para. 3: 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 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.

Art. I, Sec. 9, Para. 1: The Migration or 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.

Art. IV, Sec. 2, Para. 3: 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 such Service or Labour may be due.



“Three fifths of all other Persons” is political code for black people held as slaves in the South. This first clause, the so-called “three-fifths compromise,” insured that every “five slaves counted as three free persons for both political representation and direct taxes.

Slaves, of course, were not themselves represented in the South, unless you count their masters as such, and could not become representatives.

The second clause, as well as the third, together with the decision to enable
Congress to regulate commerce by majority vote rather than two-thirds, became known
as the “dirty compromise.

The second clause prevented Congress from banning the importation of slaves (i.e., from ending the international slave trade to the US) for twenty years until 1808, upon which time they promptly did so. The final clause, which became known as the “fugitive slave clause,” supported the Fugitive Slave Laws, obligating northern states to assist in the support of the South’s institution of slavery by hunting down and returning runaway slaves to their masters.