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Why didn't the US abolish slavery when the constitution was created?
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9 Answers
- RangerLv 77 years agoFavorite Answer
Economics. Slaves were economically viable in both the north and southern parts of America at the time of the Revolutionary War. The American Economy was dependent upon slavery to provide the labor to produce goods.
It wasn't until the North became industrialized in the machine age that slavery became an economic burden. One man operating a machine could do the work of ten slaves, so it was cheaper to hire one worker at minimum wage than pay to feed and house ten slaves.
The South remained Agrarian and farm machinery was not invented at the time of the civil war, so the south remained depended upon slaves to provide the labor.
- Michigan616Lv 57 years ago
The southern states wouldn't have agreed to become part of the United States if slavery was abolished. The US did make the stipulation that no new territories to the US could allow slavery, but that was years later and lead to the civil war.
- Lost EquationLv 77 years ago
Although many of the Founding Fathers acknowledged that slavery violated the core American Revolutionary ideal of liberty, their simultaneous commitment to private property rights, principles of limited government, and intersectional harmony prevented them from making a bold move against slavery. The considerable investment of Southern Founders in slave-based staple agriculture, combined with their deep-seated racial prejudice, posed additional obstacles to emancipation
15 were slave owners
7 were non-slave owners
- yogicskierLv 77 years ago
1. Slaves were valuable, and abolishing slavery would have amounted to taking away the property of thousands of people.
Even Lincoln didn't free the slaves in areas under Union control when he created the Emancipation Proclamation, because that would have upset slave owners in border states like Maryland and Kentucky (which stayed with the Union during the Civil War). The Proclamation was only effective in areas not under Union control at the time it was published--meaning that it didn't free a single slave until later in the war except in areas where the North had taken control of Southern areas.
2. Blacks were not considered human, at least not in a legal sense. While there were non-chattel slaves (indentured servants) that were white, they at least had reasonable a chance of becoming free, while the odds of a black slave becoming free was microscopic.
3. Slavery was condoned by the Bible, leading some to think it was OK.
Source(s): Emancipation Proclamation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclama... The Bible and Slavery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery - How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
- Bob BLv 77 years ago
At the time, slavery was considered acceptable by most of society; it was only later that opposition started to grow.
The other issue was that it was important to the economy of many of the southern colonies, and it would have been very difficult to get their support if it was removed- after all, look what happened when they did try.
- You Need Me!Lv 77 years ago
Because a lot of different delegates wanted a lot of different things. Instead of holding up progress and agreement, they hammered out the Constitution first, then agreed to come back and create the Bill of Rights.
- 7 years ago
Because they didn't even let most white people vote at that time.
They thought government was for rich people, many of whom owned slaves.
- Anonymous7 years ago
Our founders were kinda stupid, they wrote all men are created equal all while owning slaves
- Anonymous7 years ago
because aberham lincon hadnt kicked there *** yet. didnt you go to school?