[WayneS]

Slavery was an unconstitutional denial of rights to a great many people...

Not so.

Slavery was perfectly Constitutional. Provisions for it were WRITTEN in to the U.S. Constitution as it was adopted, thereby making it defacto "Constitutional".

Moral? No.

Constitutional, yes; at least until the 13th Amendment CHANGED the Constitution.

[SnakeDoctor]

>> Slavery was perfectly Constitutional. Provisions for it were WRITTEN in to the U.S. Constitution as it was adopted, thereby making it defacto “Constitutional”.

The basis of the Constitution is that the Bill of Rights simply enumerates some of those rights granted humanity by the Almighty. The Declaration of Indpendence elaborated on this concept by stating outright that certain rights, particularly life and liberty, are inalienable — and thus that no government document may legitimately deny those rights to an innocent person.

The portions of the Constitution which legalized slavery were, according to the very principles of our foundation, illegal and illegitimate.

SnakeDoc