Slavery within the U.S.

Slaves would be counted as three-fifths in total when dealing with representatives and government issues. It was proposed in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, giving more representatives in voting, to southern states.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 guaranteed the right for a slaveholder to have any of their slaves who went to free states, returned to them. This act was later opposed by the Thirteenth Amendment.

No new slaves were permitted to be imported into the United States.
This legislation was promoted by President Thomas Jefferson, ending the legality of trade with the U.S. However, it was not always well enforced and slaves continued to be smuggled.

The Missouri Compromise was an effort by the request of Missouri in 1819 for admission as a slave state. The U.S. had 22 states at that time, evenly divided into free states and slave states.

The Compromise of 1850 consisted of 5 laws regarding slavery. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished.California also entered the Union as a free state.

Declared slaves as property and not citizens, even if freed. This opposed the Missouri compromise which designated free states as states where slavery would not be prohibited; however, Dredd Scott was brought into freed states with his slave owners, but not given freedom leading him to sue. The decision made declared that any people sold as slaves could not sue because they weren't citizens. This decision was then opposed by the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave African Americans full citizenship.

President Abraham Lincoln established it during the civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within all states "are, and henceforward shall be free."