How the Constitution Emerged After the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
After attaining independence from the British, American colonies, through the continental congress, gave Thomas Jefferson the responsibility to compose the Declaration for Independence. Jefferson’s ideas explained by the colonists had to break away and seek equality and freedom for all Americans. During this time, it is estimated that there were 500 000 African Slaves with Jefferson owning a significant number of them. Although Jefferson and other holders held slaves, they denounced it for being repugnant and evil (Anderson, 2010). Southern colonies had a lot of wealth accumulated through slavery, which offered cheap labor in tobacco, rice, and other plantations. In the first national government, the articles of confederation crafted in 1781 did not mention states, and it was the duty of individual states to either refuse or continue carrying out the inhumane act. Delegates have to make decisions such as the facilitation of return for those slaves that had disappeared. The compromise of slavery had serious threats to the nation after those slaves that had escaped to the north were traced and caught and activity considered as illegal kidnapping and further importation of slaves to an extent that the trade spilled over to Louisiana. After careful consideration of the contentious debate on slavery, there was an agreement that the actual number of slaves should be reduced. To achieve the objective, taxation on slave states was imposed to discourage slaveholders from accumulating more subjects. The three-fifths compromise debate influenced the ideas of the 1787 constitutional convention that required the slaves to be counted like other citizens in order to determine the right representation. The Slaves would thereafter seize being regarded as property and become decision makers with significant representation. The Constitution Convention of 1787 also made delegates to come up with new ideas distinguishing between slaves as property of the new government and free people who should be factored in decision-making processes (Finkelman, 2012). The arguments further made slaves be included in the taxation policies and without undermining their representation.
The constitutional convention helped to deal with the stalemate associated with the proposed ratio. As a result, the position of the contending forces reversed the achievements from the1983 Article of Confederation. To amend the article, the North proposed that the slaves should be counted more compared to the south with the intention of determining the taxes that the states paid to the federal government. A profound analysis of the convention reveals that representation was the most important issue with the South wanting the slaves to count for more compared to the north. The Northerners did not benefit largely from the slave institution and they considered the inhumane trade as a dying institution with no economic benefits in the future. Ideas in the 1787 Constitution convention also laid important pillars of justice, guided by a comprehension of the ideas and ideals of the founding fathers of the American Nation.
Work cited
Anderson, T. (2010). Creating the constitution: The convention of 1787 and the first congress. Penn State Press.
Finkelman, P. (2012). Slavery in the United States: Persons or Property?
first congress should read: First Congress…
