Slavery Clauses in the U.S. Constitution

Audience

The U.S. Constitution was designed to create “a more perfect Union.” The audience was the voters of the America. The Framers wanted to gain support for the new Constitution and then set up a new, stronger, and more vibrant government. With regard to slavery, there were three audiences. First the Framers wanted to attract southern support for the Constitution by giving the states representation in Congress based on their slave populations, protecting the right of masters to recover fugitive slaves, and guaranteeing that the national government would never interfere with slavery in the states. Second, the Framers wanted to gain the support of the three most southern states—the Carolinas and Georgia—by guaranteeing their right to import slaves for at least twenty years. Finally, the Framers wanted to shape the proslavery provisions so that they would not offend northerners who opposed all slavery as well as Virginia and Maryland voters who opposed the African trade.