The Constitution and the Hydra of Slavery Lesson Plan
By Jean West

Overview

The noted 19^th-century African-American historian George Washington Williams wrote:

"I have given as fair an idea of the debate on this question, in the convention that framed the Constitution, as possible. It was then and there that the hydra of slavery struck its fangs in the Constitution; and once inoculated with the poison of the monster, the government was only able to purify itself in the flames of a great civil war...."

In this lesson, students will examine the interconnection between slavery, the constitutional clauses involving the three-fifths compromise and the composition of the Electoral College, and the 1800 presidential election between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

National Curriculum Standards met by this lesson

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

Students will understand:

• Influences on the ideas established by the Constitution (e.g., the ideas behind the distribution of powers and the system of checks and balances; the influence of 18^th-century republican ideals, and the economic and political interests of different regions on the compromises reached in the Constitutional Convention).


• The factors that led to the development of the two-party system (e.g., the emergence of an organized opposition party led by Thomas Jefferson, Hamilton's financial plan).

Time required

One 50-minute class period

Materials

• Handout: The Constitution and the Hydra of Slavery (selections from The U.S. Constitution, population statistics from the 1800 Census, and electoral results from the 1800 presidential election)


• Teacher Key to Handout


• Background information in the article, "Living with the Hydra: The Documentation of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Federal Records," by National Archives subject specialist Walter B. Hill, Jr., originally published in Prologue, the journal of the National Archives, which may be accessed at: http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/winter_2000_hydra_slave_trade_documentation_1.html.

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

1. Ask students what the census is and why we "count heads" every ten years. Then, ask what a hydra is in Greek mythology and what relationship it has with heads.


2. Share the quote of George Washington Williams (above in the Overview, or more fully in the Walter Hill article) and explain to the students that they will be examining the relationship between slavery and the U.S. Constitution.


3. Direct students to keep the census in mind as they read what their textbook has to say regarding the debates in the Constitutional Convention about slavery and representation in the House of Representatives, focusing on the "three-fifths clause," the "Great Compromise," and the Electoral College.


4. Discuss with students how the inclusion of non-voting slaves in Congressional apportionment resulted in slave states having additional electors in the Electoral College, as well as members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ask students if they know whether any elections were decided by this electoral advantage.


5. Explain that the election of 1800 was pivotal in the development of the two-party system. It also intensified the antagonisms between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson (resulting in the 12^th Amendment and, later, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding treason in U.S. v. Aaron Burr), as well as Alexander Hamilton (resulting in his dueling death.) However, could it also have been an election which would have been won by incumbent John Adams if not for the three-fifths clause? Explain to students that they will be trying to answer this historical question.

Procedures

1. Provide students with a copy of the handout The Constitution and the Hydra of Slavery (which follows) and ask them to examine all three exhibits.

Note: Teachers have a key with the computations already figured out for your convenience.

2. Sixteen states provided electors in the election of 1800:


• Connecticut (9)
• Delaware (3)
• Georgia (4)
• Kentucky (4)
• Maryland (10)
• Massachusetts (16)
• New Hampshire (6)
• New Jersey (7)
• New York (12)
• North Carolina (12)
• Pennsylvania (15)
• Rhode Island (4)
• South Carolina (8)
• Tennessee (3)
• Vermont (4)
• Virginia (21)

Assign a state to each student or pair of students and ask the students to:

• Determine the total population of the state in 1800 (both free and slave) and rank the state between 1 and 16. The state with the highest total population is 1; the state with the lowest total population is 16.


• Determine the free population of the state in 1800 and rank the state between 1 and 16. The state with the highest population of free persons is 1; the state with the lowest total free persons is 16.


• Multiply the number of slaves in the state by three-fifths or 60%.


• Add the adjusted three-fifths of the slave population to the free population of the state (this is the number upon which members of the U.S. House of Representatives were apportioned in 1800, and which was the basis for the state's electors in the Electoral College.) Rank the state's adjusted total population between 1-16. The state with the highest adjusted total population is 1; the state with the lowest adjusted population is 16.


• Compare the rankings of the state if counting total population, free population, or adjusted population. Does the state have a higher ranking counting free population or adjusted population?


3. Ask students share their findings for each of the 16 states in the 1800 election.


• Which state should have had the largest Electoral College delegation, if the slave population had not been counted?


• For which candidate did this delegation vote?


• Estimate what the likely Electoral College delegation size for the state would have been if slaves had not been counted (remembering that no state would have a delegation with fewer than three electors.) Multiply 106 by the following number (derived from dividing the total free population of a state by the total free population of the United States in 1800) and then add two to determine the electoral delegation's size:


• CT -- 106 x .06
• DE -- 106 x .01
• GA -- 106 x .025
• KY -- 106 x .04
• MD -- 106 x .06
• MA -- 106 x .1
• NH -- 106 x .04
• NJ -- 106 x .06
• NY -- 106 x .135
• NC -- 106 x .08
• PA -- 106 x .14
• RI -- 106 x .02
• SC -- 106 x .05
• TN -- 106 x .02
• VT -- 106 x .04
• VA -- 106 x .14


4. Ask students to evaluate the electoral results of the election of 1800. Based on their computations and estimates, each student should decide and explain whether the outcome of the election would have been different if slaves had not been counted, or would the outcome have been the same, and why?

You may evaluate students' participation on a ten-point scale (which may be multiplied by ten to convert to a 100-point scale or to letter grades) using the following rubric:

Sources

Print

Berlin, Ira and Ronald Hoffman, Ed. Slavery and Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution, (1983).

Berry, Mary Frances. Black Resistance--White Law: A History of Constitutional Racism in America, (1971).

Finkelman, Paul. Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson, (1996).

Higginbotham, A. Leon. Shades of Freedom: Racial Politics and Presumptions of the American Legal Process, (1996).

Hill, Walter B. "Living with the Hydra: The Documentation of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Federal Records." Prologue, 32:4, (2000).

Wiecek, William M. The Sources of Antislavery Constitutionalism in America, 1760--1848, (1977).

Williams, George Washington. History of the Negro in American from 1619 to 1880, (1883).

Internet Resources

• The University of Virginia Library has a historical census browser as part of its Geostat Center, which not only provides the census data but also enables teachers and students to manipulate the data to produce maps and tables, create ratios, and compare data across multiple census years. This valuable tool is located at: http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus.

• The website of the Census Bureau has information tracking each state's total resident population from 1790 onwards and the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives for each census, along with a chart which graphically illustrates the changes in size of the state's House delegation. The information is available in PDF format (Adobe browser) through the web site: http://www.census.gov.

• The National Archives and Records Administration has an excellent Electoral College website at http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/index.html. Students may use the Electoral College calculator to project election results, examine historic election results, review FAQs, and examine state elector certifications. There are also links to the Digital Classroom and teaching materials for educators.

Interdisciplinary Links

• Government: The Electoral College was impacted by the three-fifths clause until the adoption of the 14^th Amendment. Students may wish to do the following:


1. Look at other presidential elections to determine if outcomes might have been different, or
2. Compare the electoral delegations of the states before and after the adoption of the 14^th Amendment, or
3. Examine the debates and discussion over the 14^th Amendment in Congress and in the states as they ratified the amendment.


• Mathematics: The method for computing the apportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives has changed over time. Students may wish to examine the formulas used at different times in the nation's history and investigate if there might be a better formula that should be implemented today. For information on the historic methods, students should visit the Census Bureau's website at: http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/apportionment.html

This lesson was submitted by Jean West, an education consultant in Port Orange, Florida.

The Constitution and the Hydra of Slavery Lesson

Handout One: The Constitution and the Hydra of Slavery

Exhibit A: Selections from the U.S. Constitution

Article. I. Section. 2.

Clause 3: Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. (See Note) The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

Clause 2: Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

Note: The part of this Clause relating to the mode of apportionment of representatives among the several States has been affected by Section 2 of amendment XIV.

Exhibit B: The 1800 Census

Source: The University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center, Historical Census Browser at http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus

Exhibit C: 1800 ELECTION

Source: The National Archives, http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/votes/1789_1821.html#1800

Thomas Jefferson, President; Aaron Burr, Vice President

The Constitution and the Hydra of Slavery Lesson

2a) Total Population: 1 -- VA , 2 -- PA, 3 -- NY, 4 -- NC, 5 -- MA, 6 -- SC, 7 -- MD, 8 -- CT, 9 -- KY, 10 -- NJ, 11 -- NH, 12 -- GA, 13 -- VT, 14 -- TN, 15 -- RI, 16 --DE

2b) Free Population: 1 -- PA, 2 -- NY, 3 -- VA, 4 -- MA, 5 -- NC, 6 -- CT, 7 -- MD, 8 -- SC, 9 -- NJ, 10 -- NH, 11 -- KY, 12 -- VT, 13 -- GA, 14 -- TN, 15 -- RI, 16 -- DE

2c/d) Adjusted Population: 1 -- VA, 2 -- PA, 3 -- NY, 4 -- NC, 5 -- MA, 6 -- MD, 7 -- SC, 8 -- CT, 9 -- NJ, 10 -- KY, 11 -- NH, 12 -- VT, 13 -- GA, 14 -- TN, 15 -- RI, 16 -- DE

3. Estimated Free Population Electoral Delegations:

• CT = 9
• DE = 3
• GA = 5
• KY = 6
• MD = 8
• MA = 13
• NH = 6
• NJ = 7
• NY = 16
• NC = 11
• PA = 17
• RI = 4
• SC = 7
• TN = 4
• VT = 6
• VA = 16

If the electors voted exactly as they did in the actual election (including the proportional votes in several delegations), the final electoral vote would have been Adams -- 63, Jay -- 1, and Jefferson 74. Jefferson would have won in the Electoral College, but having tied with Burr, there would still have been the deadlock to be resolved in the U.S. House.