Historians sometimes talk about the constitutional convention of 1787 as “the miracle of Philadelphia.” Why? This is Part SIX of the answer.
With the general outlines of the three branches of government set, the Philadelphia Convention had other issues to settle, including the proper division of authority between the national government and the states, and whether to address the immorality of slavery, and if so, how.
When it came to the power of the national government, small states like New Jersey and Connecticut were of two minds. On the one hand, they feared that the national government would oppress them because in it, the interests of the larger states would likely be best represented. On the other hand, without a strong national government to check the power of larger states, the smaller states would be at their mercy in a different way. For this reason, William Paterson’s “New Jersey Plan” acknowledged that laws made by the national congress would have to control over any conflicting state laws. Once small state concerns were addressed by the compromises over electing the president and allocating representation in Congress, they were among the delegates most in favor of a strong national government, and Paterson’s language about federal supremacy was adopted easily.
But disputes between northern and southern delegates over slavery continued to be a problem. The South wanted to limit Congress’s power to restrict trade in slaves and the plantation crops they produced. The North saw slavery as an embarrassment to the nation founded on the Declaration of Independence. Delegates compromised again. The Constitution would give Congress broad power to regulate trade by simple majority vote, but it prohibited Congress from banning the importation of slaves until the year 1808, and, in its “fugitive slave clause,” it also provided southern slave owners assurance that any of their slaves escaping to free states must be returned by those states to their owners.
“History of Our Freedoms” is produced by KEDT-FM in Corpus Christi. Dr. Bill Chriss is a historian and legal scholar. For more on history and the constitution, check out his blog at DrBillChriss.substack.com.
