The ClayTaurus said:Yeah, but the slaves weren't Americans, and they weren't considered as Americans, so the constitution wouldn't apply to them.
Right. Hence, the three-fifths compromise, which I consider the opening shot of the Civil War. Slavery went against everything our founders (the anti-slavery majority of them, anyway) stood for. They had this little problem, though. That little problem was the world's reigning superpower, sailing over here just as fast as the wind could carry it, for the express purpose of grinding our founders' rebellious little testicles into axle grease. "There will be no slavery in our new nation" becomes a rather hollow statement if that nation ceases to exist. The war to abolish slavery commenced fewer than a hundred years later - the historical equivalent of the blink of an eye. Let's cut our founders a little slack, shall we?