Uploaded January 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Slavery and the Constitution, by Professor John P. Kaminski. Constitutional scholar Professor John P. Kaminski, Director, Center for the Study of the American Constitution, University of Wisconsin-Madison, reflects upon the impact of slavery on the Constitution. Sectional differences ensured that slavery would be both protected and challenged by the Constitution. Professor Kaminski analyzes the immediate and long-term implications of the three-fifths compromise, the slave trade clause, and the fugitive slave clause. He contends that the convention’s decision to allow congressional action on slavery after 1808 was “the beginning of the end.”
American History Videos are sponsored by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. These videos are offered to help teachers, students and the general public learn more about America's founding and the Constitution of the United States. www.jamesmadison.gov.
0:00 Intro
0:29 Slavery
5:02 The Convention
9:30 Three-fifths compromise
17:08 Fugitive Slave Clause
19:27 Gradual emancipation
Slavery and the Constitution, by Professor John P. Kaminski. Constitutional scholar Professor John P. Kaminski, Director, Center for the Study of the American Constitution, University of Wisconsin-Madison, reflects upon the impact of slavery on the Constitution. Sectional differences ensured that slavery would be both protected and challenged by the Constitution. Professor Kaminski analyzes the immediate and long-term implications of the three-fifths compromise, the slave trade clause, and the fugitive slave clause. He contends that the convention’s decision to allow congressional action on slavery after 1808 was “the beginning of the end.”
American History Videos are sponsored by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. These videos are offered to help teachers, students and the general public learn more about America's founding and the Constitution of the United States. www.jamesmadison.gov.
0:00 Intro
0:29 Slavery
5:02 The Convention
9:30 Three-fifths compromise
17:08 Fugitive Slave Clause
19:27 Gradual emancipation
