Debates Over Slavery
In 1787, delegates arrived in Philadelphia to begin work on revising the Articles of Confederation. Most states agreed that the Articles had not provided the country with the type of guidelines that it needed to run smoothly. There were many things missing, and many issues that needed further consideration. One of the most controversial topics at the Constitutional Convention was figuring out the country's policy towards slavery. When all was said and done, slavery was still legal after the Convention because the southern economy depended on it and because most people decided that this was an issue that should be decided by each individual state, rather than the country as a whole.The issue of slavery was taken very seriously at the Convention, and there were many different sides to the issue that were debated. Although the southern state's economies depended on slaves immensely, the northern states believed that the US could not in good will allow slavery because of the moral repercussions that go along with it. The US was founded in the first place because they felt that they were their own country, a separate entity from England. Now, nearly seven years later they were going to sign a document th
at would give Americans the right to hold people against their will and force them to work for free. This seems like a large contradiction to everything the US stands for, especially since they had just earned their own freedom a few years ago. Luther Martin of Maryland brought up this point at the Convention by saying, "...it is inconsistent with the principles of the revolution and dishonorable to the American character to have such a feature in the Constitution" (Peters 164). The next reason why slavery was not abolished during the Constitutional Convention was because many people saw slavery as an issue that should be decided by individual states, rather than the national government. Oliver Ellsworth argued at the Convention by saying, "Let every state import what it pleases. The morality or wisdom of slavery are considerations belonging to the states themselves. What enriches a part enriches the whole, and the states are the best judges of their particular interest" (Peters 165). Before his death in 1790, Benjamin Franklin wrote a memorial to Congress asking for the abolition of slavery. Congress responded by saying that they could not "interfere in the internal affairs of the states" (Peters 241). People such as Roger Sherman pointed out that abolition of slavery was slowly happening in the United States any ways, so there was no need for the national government to intercede. Once the Convention heard all the arguments and voted on all the clauses contained about slavery, the delegates concluded that slavery should still be legal. There are a few reasons why they decided this. The first major reason was that the southern economy depended on slavery to operate their plantations. If slavery were abolished, then they would lose their entire wo
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Approximate Word count = 1194
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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