The Constitution, proposed by James Madison at the convention in Philadelphia in 1787 sought to establish a better set of governing principles for the United States. Though the Constitution maintained the stronghold grip on suppressing the rights of African slaves, it provided a radical change form state sovereignty to federalism while respecting the rights of states. While anti-slavery ideas had started gaining momentum, the Constitution expressed the continuing idea that slaves were property. This can be shown through the fugitive slave clause, which states that escaped slaves were not free once crossing into other states and had to be returned to the owner. This clearly indicates that the Constitution was not trying to abolish slavery, or provide a set of specific rights for slaves, but was merely affirming the fact that whites had supremacy over them. Moreover, the Constitution prohibited Congress to outlaw the slave trade until 1808. This further demonstrates that the founders did not look to give the rights to slaves, and only looked to satisfy the Southern states. Most importantly, the Constitution defined "We the people" as the free Americans and excluded the slaves and Indians. This bolsters the fact that the Constitution called to suppress slave rights because they weren't even included in the body of the people! They did not receive the principle of the consent of the governed like all of the free citizens of America did. The views of the American Revolution on slavery lasted all the way to the writing of the Constitution and greatly impacted the founders.
Unlike the oppression of the rights of slaves, the states actually maintained their rights. This is evident in the bicameral legislature, with a House and a Senate, called for in the Constitution. While the members from each state in the House were based on population, the members in the Senate were two per state.
