Enslavement in Kentucky

Between the time Daniel Boone led his settlers through the Cumberland Gap and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery was prominent in the Commonwealth. In several constitutional conventions, founders and lawmakers questioned the legality and appropriateness of the issue. At every possible juncture, wealthy slaveholders defended the institution, while abolitionists fought one another over the question of slavery. As a result of the fighting, the Thirteenth Amendment was not ra...