[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Slavery should have been abolished when the Constitution was drafted. And abortion too.

[gundog]

Abolition would have been a deal breaker.

[ripnbang]

IIRC, the first drafts of the Declaration of Independence contained passages pointing out the slave trade as being one of the many complaints against King George that brought about the Independence movement. I believe the southern colonies refused to vote in favor of the declaration until the passages referring to slavery were removed.

[Leaning Right]

> Slavery should have been abolished when the Constitution was drafted. <

So true, so very true. But it would have had to be phased out gradually. For financial reasons, the South would never have accepted a sudden abolition. Maybe something like: No person shall be held a slave after the year 1820.

> And abortion too. <

None of the Founders would have even considered that this type of killing would ever be legal.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The Constitution would not have been ratified if slavery was banned because the Southern colonies would not sign on. Slaves gave Southern colonies a labor cost advantage for exports, which created a cash cow for the Federal Treasury. The 3/5th rule on apportation of delegates was a compromise that allowed slaves to be fully counted in the census, but only 3/5 for delegates. 13 colonies became The United States.

This tension lasted about 60 years when all hell broke loose at Ft. Sumner. Secession essentially for taxation without representation, the Norths growing demand to end slavery, the South smuggling crop exports to avoid taxes, and so on.

[jmacusa]

The reasoning had always been throughout the nations history that the Southern states would not have ratified the Constitution if slavery had been abolished. So in effect the can was kicked down the road. Abortion was not an issue in the eighteenth century. Childbirth was fraught with peril as it was. In a manifestly Christian culture the idea that a woman would kill a child in the womb was simply unheard of.