Before the Thirteenth Amendment, Slavery Was Just 3 Fifths of a Topic to Talk About

So, in case you haven’t figured this out already, pretty much everything you learned in your high school history class was wrong.  I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was all lies (only some of it was), but let’s just say that history text books are usually agenda-oriented.  I could spend days talking about that, and frankly, you would get bored.  Instead, let’s talk briefly about slavery.

Yay!

Specifically, the idiotic lies that are taught about “free states” and “slave states”.  Guys.  There was no such thing as a free state before the Civil War (and you could argue, not even right after that).  Slavery was an economic and social reality of American life (well, “European American”, anyway) from the very beginning.  Abolitionists were mostly hated for the first half of the Nineteenth Century.  Our Eurocentric history books may not like to talk about these issues, but it doesn’t change them.  And I can prove it by doing pretty much the barest amount of research possible.

Let’s take an arbitrary “free” state.  Arbitrarily, I’ll pick Illinois, the state I live in.  Back when it was still French territory, French settlers (or French invaders, if you were the locals at the time) brought African and American Indian slaves with them into the territory.  After the French and Indian War, the territory switched over to British control.  I’m sure you all remember how that worked out.  After the American Revolution,   Illinois was part of the Northwest Territory, and under the Northwest Ordinance.  And since this is the future and we have the internet, let’s pull up Article VI of said Ordinance:

“There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid.”

Damn!  That sounds downright progressive for 1787!  So, according to the law of the land at the time, no slavery.  Except, you know, if a runaway slave came into the place, the territory was obligated to return him.  But still, okay, not so bad.  A few future laws would muck things up a bit, but today, let’s keep it simple.  Under the rules of the Northwest Ordinance, Illinois became a state in 1818.  Article VI of Illinois’ first Constitution is down lower, because I know not everyone wants to read a bunch of legal gibberish, but basically it says in Illinois, we don’t do slavery.  Unless, you know, you were already a slave when we made this state.  Or you live in this place where we want slaves to mine for salt for us.  Or if we just make up some stupid bullshit to justify keeping you.  But!  If you were born into slavery after this constitution is signed, you get your freedom!  You know.  When you reach adulthood.  So, rest assured, Illinois is a free state!

Guys.  That is some bullshit, right there.  And like I said, if you don’t believe me, I reprinted the whole thing at the bottom.  This wasn’t some obscure law or code or anything, that’s the friggin’ constitution!  The literal law of the land!  Luckily, such stupid bullshit couldn’t last forever, even the law signers at the time must have realized that by the 1840s, they’d have to accept that a bunch of free children of slaves were now part of their communities.  Which is one of the many, many reasons why, in 1848, they made up a whole new constitution to replace the old one (Illinois has had 4 constitutions, to date).

Article XIII, Section 16 of the 1848 Constitution states flatly: “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”  So, no slavery any more, except as a jail sentence.  So, once again, progress!  Well, yeah.  But then you read further, and there’s Article XIV.  Which… Ugh.  Just read it for yourself.

“The general assembly shall, at its first session under the amended constitution, pass such laws as will effectually prohibit free persons of color from immigrating to and settling in this state; and to effectually prevent the owners of slaves from bringing them into this state for the purpose of setting them free.”

So…. The first thing you want to do is make a law keeping black people from moving here?  And to prohibit slave owners from moving here if they plan to free their slaves?  Jesus titty fucking Christ, that’s the legal equivalent of putting a sign out in the yard that says “No darkies”!  That’s just flat out reprehensible!  And remember, all of these things are evidenced by an easily available public document.  Finding these records online took me exactly three minutes.  I’m literally not even trying to do real research, and still I can prove my point!

The reason I bring all of this up, is because it’s important to understand this shit.  It’s not happy, it’s not nice, but it’s the truth.  As America becomes more and more integrated- both racially and internationally- it’s important to understand how we got to this point.  I really do believe that the world is progressively getting better, but issues come up.  You can’t properly deal with situations without proper information leading into it. 

American history textbooks want to provide a rosie picture of America, with the ideology of “Everything about America is great!”  It doesn’t want to admit that anything we’ve ever done was wrong.  Well, the truth is that we’ve done some pretty fucked up things in our past.  Odds are better than even that we’ll do some pretty fucked up things in our future.  And if kids grow up believing everything America has ever done was good and right, what happens when we do something horrifying?

Article VI of Illinois’ 1818 Constitution:

1. Neither slavery or involuntary servitude shall hereafter be introduced into this state, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; nor shall any male person, arrived at the age of 21 years, nor female person arrived at the age of 18 years, be held to serve any person as a servant, under any indenture hereafter made, unless such person shall enter into such indenture while in a state of perfect freedom, and on condition of a bona -fide consideration received or to be received for their service. Nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto, hereafter made and executed out of this state, or if made in this state, where the term of service exceeds one year, be of the least validity, except those given in cases of apprenticeship.

2. No person bound to labor in any other state, shall be hired to labor in this state, except within the tract reserved for the salt works near Shawneetown; nor even at that place for a longer period than one year at any one time; nor shall it be allowed there after the year 1825: any violation of this article shall effect the emancipation of such person from his obligation to service.

3. Each and every person who has been bound to service by contract or indenture in virtue of the law of Illinois territory heretofore existing, and in conformity to the provisions of the same, without fraud or collusion, shall be held to a specific performance of their contracts or indentures; and such negroes and mulattoes as have been registered in conformity with the aforesaid laws, shall serve out the time appointed by said laws: Provided however, that the children hereafter born of such person , negroes or mulattoes, shall become free, the males at the age of 21 years, the females at the age of 18 years. Each and every child born of indentured parents, shall be entered with the clerk of the county in which they reside, by their owners, within six months after the birth of said child.