1. What specific regulations/rules does the U.S. Constitution make about enslavement in America (article I: sect. 2 #1; article I, sect. 9, #1; article IV, sect. 2, #3)?
Article I, Section 2 includes the “three-fifths” clause, which helped slave states gain more Congressional representatives by allowing slaves to count as “three fifths” of a person. Article I, Section 9, Number 1 places a new tax on the importation of new slaves, essentially leading to the ban on the trans-Atlantic trade. Article IV, Section 2, Number 3 contains the Fugitive Slave clause. This clause mandates that anyone who apprehends a runaway slave return that person to the owner. Essentially, this clause makes it a crime to aid, assist, or house a fugitive slave. Source: United States Constitution
2. How specifically is the "3/5 compromise" a compromise between southern “slave states" (i.e., VA, SC, etc.) and northern “free-labor” states (NY, MA, etc.)?
The “three fifths” clause was framed as a compromise because the Southern states actually wanted slaves to count as full people. It seems ironic that the slave states would have wanted slaves to count as full people under the Constitution; the reason was both to gain more tax revenues and to gain more clout in Congress (”Three-Fifths Clause,”...
References
“Fugitive Slave Clause,” (2012). Heritage Foundation. Retrieved online: http://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/4/essays/124/fugitive-slave-clause
“Three-Fifths Clause.” Heritage Foundation. Retrieved online: http://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/1/essays/6/three-fifths-clause
“The Slave Trade and the Constitution,” (2012). Retrieved online: http://abolition.nypl.org/essays/us_constitution/3/
United States Constitution. Available online: http://constitutionus.com/
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