The proclamation of “All Men are created equal” while slavery was still legal and the resultant Civil War that resulted in freeing the slaves should tell you all you need to know.
Revisionist history may differ.
People at the time knew slavery was a festering wound on the country that had to be resolved at some point. The government kicked the can down the road as long as possible, then the issue blew up.
It is just amazing how the speeches of the time were so intellectual and full of information. Listening to Douglass’ speech takes a good deal of attention and thought.
No, far, far more complicated. The Constitution which GUARANTEED that “all men are created equal” by law never once referred to slavery. Slaves were NOT viewed constitutionally in cases that came before the US courts prior to Dred Scott as “property,” only as “unfree PERSONS.” The battle between personhood & property always results in personhood winning.
This was specifically due to the fact that the Constitution overrode state laws that denied the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and is seen in the second national law ever passed, really, the NW Ordinance that prohibited slavery in the Old Northwest.
So freedom was interpreted as “national” and slavery “local.” This is borne out in the massive numbers of letters/speeches in BOTH the North & South.
See “Freedom National” by James Oakes. And this ain’t “revisionist history” any more than our “Patriot’s History of the United States” is revisionist history.