SHEG: Slavery in the Constitution

8.C&G.1.2 Evaluate the degree to which democratic ideals are evident in historical documents from North Carolina and the United States (e.g. the Mecklenburg Resolves, the Halifax Resolves, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of
Confederation, the Bill of Rights, and the principles outlined in the US Constitution and North Carolina Constitutions of 1776, 1868, and 1971).

8.H.2.1 Explain the impact of economic, political, social, and military conflicts (e.g. war, slavery, states’ rights, and citizenship and immigration policies) on the development of North Carolina and the United States.

8.H.1.3 Use primary and secondary sources to interpret various historical perspectives. 

You are going to be reading three different documents then answer the following questions that go with the documents 

Now answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. How does the Slavery Grievance describe slavery? Who does Jefferson blame for the continuation of the slave trade?
2. Why does Jefferson italicize the word ‘Christian’ at the end of the first paragraph?
3. Why do you think that Thomas Jefferson wrote a paragraph about slavery when he wrote the Declaration of Independence?

Now read the following two short sources and answer the questions after the readings 

Now answer the following questions in complete sentences:

4. Do you think the men of the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention of 1787 thought slavery would last forever?

5. Why did the Constitution allow slavery to continue, if the Declaration of Independence claimed that “all men are created equal”?