Slavery and the Constitution The constitution was crafted as a series of compromises to replace the articles of Confederation. If our nation was to remain free it would have to stay united and this meant no one state or group could dictate to another state what the conditions would be under the new government. One of the compromises that the framers made was on the issue of slavery. The northern states were opposed and the Southern states wanted to keep slavery.
The economy of the North was more diverse than that of the South and generally relied on free labor. . In a free labor system the employer hires a worker and they agree how much the worker will be paid. In the north people worked as farmers, fishermen, merchants, bankers, manufactures and laborers. The northern states were in direct competition with Great Britain for manufacturing and trade with other countries.
English: The Old Plantation, ca. 1790-1800. Waterc...
English: Slaves Waiting for Sale - Richmond, Virgi...
English: A map issued by the US Coast Guard showin...The delegates from the northern states were generally for protective tariffs and against the importation of slaves.
The economy of the South was almost completely agricultural. People who owned plantations in these states depended on slave labor. Slaves were considered property and could be bought or sold. They were not considered citizens and did not have rights of citizens. The agricultural products that the southern states produced were things like cotton and tobacco and they sold these products to the northern states but their primary market was in Europe. Since the southern states were trading mainly with Great Britain the delegates from the south were generally for slavery and against protective tariffs.
The conflict over slavery was complicated. Slavery had existed in some form throughout history of the world for thousands of years. The colonial practice of slavery was established shortly after the early settlements were established. Although...