Why did the framers not abolish slavery at the time they wrote the Constitution?

Question

Just wondering. And I am talking about the United States Framers like Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.

Answer 1

Because then the south wouldn't rebel with them.

Answer 2

They didn't think it was that big of a deal at the time. Some of them even had slaves of their own.

Answer 3

Because some of them owned slaves.  When it was written, they really were only talking about white men.  Not black men and not women of any color.

Answer 4

Because it would destroy the economy which was driven by farming.  Interesting, since most were supposedly "Christian" and slavery is inconsistant with the Bible...or is it?

Answer 5

The question came up. Allot. It came down to a question of priorities. There were ALLOT of other issues on the plate and they decided to tackle the question of slavery later. The question never really went away and erupted quite forcefully in the Civil War less than 100 years later.

Answer 6

because they realized that summarily eliminated half the country's method of income would not only lead to a revolt but cause the experiment of the new country to fail before it even started.  At that time in history, slavery was a common practice all over the world.  Many framers knew it was wrong but were not sure how to bring the country into being and still outlaw slavery.

Answer 7

A lot of wealthy southern folks relied heavily on slave labor for running their plantations for cotton and sugar.    Wealthy people are difficult enemies, so the framers compromised in order to develop a more united nation.  Interestingly, according to Howard Zinn (A Peoples' History,) institutionalized racism and white supremacy was encouraged after this in order to maintain slavery (i.e. slavery didn't come as a result of white supremacy).

Answer 8

Many did mostly amongst the northern industrial states whom had already largely abolished slavery. Slavery was an article of contention during it's creation and the Articles of Confederation before it. It was eventually decided to skip over it since the southern states would not ratify it if slavery was abolished.

Answer 9

The South never would have signed it, so they had to compromise.

Answer 10

A number of the founding fathers DID want to abolish slavery, but they were outnumbered. At the time it was more important to them to be unified, so they did not push the issue.

Answer 11

Many of them used slaves on thier plantations.

Answer 12

Half of the country, the south had their economic system based on raising crops which called for a lot of intensive, hard, labor. Some examples were tobacco, rice indigo, a dye, and very soon cotton, thanks to Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin.

The idea that those who owned most slaves, the rich planters

like washington, jefferson, madison, and the other leading

political and social southern leaders, were going to voluntarily give up slavery was not going to happen. if a new government was going to be approved then so was slavery. If they had tried to abolish slavery there may have beeb no United States. There was a provision in the Constitution banning the importation of slaves after 20 years and in the Northwest Ordinance, passed by the Articles of Confederation Government, they had banned slavery in what is now the Midwest, can't gow plantation crops that far north.

But it was a matter of getting a government that would work

and with no acceptance of slavery that was not going to happen. Oh, by the way washington and Jefferson both freed their slaves, BUT ONLY THE 2  DIED.