I'm curious about the role slavery played when the founding fathers were writing the constitution and creating the early US government. Mainly, I've heard a lot recently about slavery being one of the reasons the electoral college was created.
Growing up in the US, we learned about slavery in the context of the triangle trade, the underground railroad and the Civil War, with the occasional details of its brutality thrown in. So now, I'm more interested in learning about what role, if any, the institution of slavery played in the founding of the United States and the institutions we have today as part of the Federal Government.
Thanks!
This has been discussed before. See here and especially here for great answers by /u/uncovered-history.
Your TLDR is that no, it was not created as a tool for against the institution of slavery, but as a check on the masses by allowing elites to elect the president.
Speaking more generally to your question about how slavery influenced the founders, but not regarding the electoral college, I would point to the question of how slaves were counted for purposes of representation and taxation. The so-named 3/5 compromise stated that slaves would equal 3/5 of a white free person for purposes of representation in the House, which necessarily gave southern elites a disproportionate advantage. This section (Article 2, Section 1, Clause 3) of the Constitution was repealed by the 14th Amendment.
Slavery was also directly impacted by Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1 which included a prohibition against Congress restricting the importation of slaves before 1808, and Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3, the fugitive slave clause, which stated that slaves couldn't escape to a free state and gain freedom. So slavery definitely was on the mind of the founders and influenced the very document itself.