American History: The Civil War

1861 - 1865

Solomon and Ann were married during the most turbulent period in American history. The issue of slavery plunged the nation into civil war. There was deep division on the issue of slavery from the very founding of the republic. At the time of the Constitutional Convention (1787) slaves were counted in every state with the exception of Massachusetts and the districts of Vermont and Maine {SOL.1}. While about 18% of the population nationwide was enslaved, in South Carolina the percentage was 43% Slavery was the backbone upon which the south built it economy. Without slavery, this region would be plunged into deep economic distress. Even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had considerable investments in slaves. Jefferson wrestled with his inability to run Monticello without the labor of his slaves. Washington knew that slavery was wrong, but retained slaves at Mount Vernon. In his will, Washington's prearranged the manumission of his slaves upon his death.

Slavery was a reality in the nation. How did the framers of the Constitution deal with the issue? There were three places in the new Constitution which addressed slavery. The first deals with the enumeration of the population. The legislative branch of government was divided into two houses: the Senate in which each state had equal representation, and the House in which representation would be proportionate to the population. States like South Carolina argued vehemently in favor of counting their slave population to establish representation, yet slaves were legally the property of their master. The compromise was that each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person {SOL.2}. In Article 1, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress is expressly prohibited from banning the importation of slaves before the year 1808 {SOL.3}. The Constitution also contained a Fugitive Slave Clause (Article IV Section 2) which stated that the laws of one state cannot excuse a person from "Service or Labour" in another state {SOL.4}. The Civil War was not something that began in the middle of the nineteenth century, but rather it had its roots in these compromises made by the framers of the Constitution. Without these compromises, there would be no new nation. Historians see the birth of the nation not as an event that occurred in 1776, but as a continuing series of events, and the Civil War was a part of this process. Why was the issue of slavery not addressed in 1808 as permitted by the Constitution? It took another fifty years for the burning embers to explode into a conflict that would rend the nation and set brother against brother in bloody conflict that would cost almost 700,000 American lives, more than all other wars from the Revolution to the present day.

More information regarding slavery in the Colony of New Jersey
and the early years of the Republic.