[DiogenesLamp]

Northern states did pass individual state laws outlawing slavery or defining a plan for emancipation. They couldn't "simply make slavery illegal" - they knew that would take an amendment to the Constitution.

See how Slavery ended in Massachusetts. Yes, the courts ruled it unconstitutional. They "simply made slavery illegal."

[rockrr]

They didn’t obviate Massachusetts’s responsibility by virtue of the Fugitive Slave Act or taney’s Prigg v. Pennsylvania to render aid to slavers in the capture of runaway slaves. And it didn’t “just end slavery” in the other states.