I wonder if JQA knew what trouble slavery was going to be?
I think he knew. When I was in college I read Thomas Jefferson’s first draft of the Declaration of Independence where he had a very strong anti-slavery statement. He was made aware that some of the states would not go for it and he reluctantly removed all the anti-slavery wording. Our Founders knew that the subject would have to be addressed at some point. They were well-read men and believed that slavery was wrong from what they read in the Old Testament. But they had the immediate task at hand and that was to free themselves from Great Britain. When they wrote “We the People” they meant ALL the people, including slaves.