“What will be said of this new principle of founding a Right to govern Freemen on a power derived from slaves in preference to other property themselves incapable of governing yet giving to others what they have not. The omitting of the Word will be regarded as an Endeavour to conceal a principle of which we are ashamed.” – John Dickinson, July 9, 1787

From Independence to Union, 1776-1787

• Confederation
• State Constitutions
• Great Compromise (bicameral legislature)

Types of Slavery

• War/Conquest
• Peonage/Debt
• Serfdom
• Indentured
• Chattel

1787 – Making the Constitution  

3/5 Compromise

Gradual ban on the importation of slaves

Fugitive Slave Law

Can liberty survive self-government?

Can self-government survive compromise with slavery?

1857  – Dred Scott & the Constitutional Crisis over Slavery