But Douglas is dead wrong about the Founding Fathers not particularly wanting to end slavery, preferring to leave it to the states. Remember that the introduction of slavery was one of the grievances laid at King George's door in the Declaration of Independence, and there's plenty of evidence that abolition was debated at the Constitutional Convention, but that Georgia and, especially (and as ever) South Carolina made it clear that they'd never go along with the Constitution if that was the case. See Madison's comments in the Virginia ratification debates.