MADISONCENTER FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP
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The constitutional text

Article I · Section 9

Select any highlighted phrase to understand what it means.

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

[No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken.]*

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Source: National Constitution Center edition. Original wording is preserved; commentary explains historical and superseded provisions.

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202 elements · 219 connections · One constitutional systemOpen the reader
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You don’t have to understand everything at once. One connection is a good beginning.

LOOK A LITTLE CLOSER

Article I, Section 9, Clause 1b

A capped tax within an unjust accommodation

historical provision
but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person

What it means

The original clause allowed a tax on the protected importation up to ten dollars per person. The permission did not undo the temporary bar on congressional prohibition.

Historical setting

This monetary qualification formed part of the bargain protecting the international slave trade until 1808. It treated people subjected to coercive importation as objects of a revenue arrangement.

What it does

The tax ceiling and prohibition delay were narrow historical restrictions, not the basis of the present constitutional treatment of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment supplies the decisive later prohibition on slavery and involuntary servitude within its terms.

Debate & interpretation

The passage illustrates why precise institutional description must not sanitize what the institution did. A limited power to tax a practice can coexist with a deliberate denial of power to stop it, producing very different consequences for those harmed.

A common misreading

The tax authorization was not a grant of citizenship, a payment to enslaved people, or a prohibition of the slave trade.

Think it through

What does this clause reveal about the difference between regulating an injustice and ending it?

Follow the connection

Sources & further reading

Original Madison Center commentary. Explanations distinguish the text, historical context, and interpretive disagreements.

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