If the founding fathers guarenteed freedom in this country, why did they allow slavery in the constitution?

Answer 1

The Founders didn’t guarantee any freedoms and that was not the intent of the Constitution.

Freedoms were assumed as preexisting the constitution and having origin in Common Law. The Constitution was developed to establish a general government to handle common needs between the States. Freedoms are not mentioned in the body of the Constitution, but are indirectly mentioned in the first ten amendments of the Constitution, those amendments referred to as the Bill of Rights.

Even in the Bill of Rights, individual rights are not guaranteed. Rather, they are restrictions on the general government. The first eight articles of the Bill of Rights are exclusionary. That is, they specifically exclude the general government of acting in certain ways. The ninth and tenth articles are declaratory statements of fundamental truths and name no specific freedoms.

The word slavery is not mentioned in the body of the Constitution and is not mentioned in the amendments until the 13th Amendment [1865] where it is finally banned and in the 14th Amendment [1868]. Slaves are indirectly mentioned in Article I, Section 2, Clause 3. In part this is to determine numbers of Representatives and Direct Taxes based on population and how that population is counted “. . . . which shall 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. . . . . “ This latter phrase “all other persons” refers to slaves. It also was indirectly mentioned in Article VI, Section 2, Clause 3. This was intended to keep people who were under service and/or labor requirements in one State not being able to escape to another State and of course this included a slave. Additionally in Article 5, the date of 1808 was provided as a time line which barred certain types of legislation prior to that date. Some have concluded that such a limit included any laws barring slavery prior to that date, but subsequent to that date slavery could be barred.

Slavery existed at the time of the writing of the Constitution and at the time of its ratification. It was understood at those times that States heavily involved with the use of slaves would not join this new Union if slavery was banned at that time.

You should also keep in mind that slavery was an issue which threatened to rend the Union even before it was ratified because some (in all States) didn’t believe in it.

Answer 2

Now for an answer from someone that actually teaches this and knows.

1. Had slavery been abolished in the wording of the Constitution the framers of the Constitution knew that it would never be approved by the southern states and hence would never be ratified.

2. Slavery was a highly unprofitable system of labor and most of the framers hoped that it would soon die out on its own. This probably WOULD have taken place except for the fact that only six years later in 1793 Eli Whitney invented a way to make cotton production profitable--the cotton engine (or "gin" for short.)

Those are really the only two reason slavery was left alone in 1787.

And there you have it.

Answer 3

to the men who founded the USA, "freedom" meant freedom to keep slaves and not be taxed by the British crown; not freedom from tyranny or freedom for slaves. The USA was founded so the colonists could get rich on the slave trade, and with the phrase "all men are born free" the founding fathers simply meant all white men. If you weren't white or male life in the USA was no better than it had been under the British, and even for white men the only way life was better was that they didn't have to pay tax to George III. Thomas Jefferson wasn't the only slave-owning member of the founding fathers, and the "freedom to all men" clause had nothing to do with The South as when the US constitution was written The South as it is known today was still in the hands of the British, French and Spanish.

Answer 4

This was a divisive issue from the beginning. Most of the founding fathers saw slavery as evil, but some regarded it as essential to the economy in their region. Some that did see slavery as evil did not see how to get out of it in the short term. (Most slaves were uneducated and lacking in the skills needed to live independently; if simply freed, they could be easy prey to re-exploitation.) Finally, in order to form a unified country, it was found necessary to accommodate the states that insisted on slavery. Many were deeply disappointed, but felt that independence from England had to come first.

Answer 5

Because everyone was a racist then. Slavery was an accepted fact. They didn't think of it as wrong any more than people today think it's wrong to own a dog or a cat. When the founders spoke of "all men" as in "all men are created equal", they meant all ENGLISHMEN, like themselves. Women didn't have any rights either. In fact, not even all men could vote. The franchise was limited to white, male property owners. The idea being that the masses would vote confiscatory taxes on property owners if they were allowed to vote. The founders had a very different definition of freedom than we have today.

Answer 6

That's a huge question, and there are plenty of books and articles on the topic. In a very simplistic nutshell, it was a tradeoff between the New England and Southern states. The Constitution was not some document where everyone (including the convention delegates) jumped up and down and said, "This is perfect the way it is!" That's why the Federalist Papers were so important in swaying public opinion in favor of the Constitution--and we all owe a deep debt of thanks to Alexander Hamilton for all his hard work.

Answer 7

They guarenteed the freedom for white men from Britain. Many of the founding fathers were slave owners, like Jefferson and Washington.

Answer 8

It's all about the Benjamins.

Actually, Franklin did want slavery abolished, however money talks. In order to keep the union together (until 1861, anyway), slavery was permitted.

Answer 9

In those days, black folks were not considered people and unworthy of even the most basic of human rights. Even some of our founding fathers owned slaves. Thomas Jefferson is said to have fathered a child with a slave.

Answer 10

it was freedom to all MEN. Blacks at the time werenot even considered men. Back then, more than a gender, man was a race of white male property owners. Even white men that owned nothing were considered less thana MAN. sad but true.