Slavery and the Law: The History of the Legal Systems and Cases that Enabled Slavery in the United States

Ultimately, while the institution of slavery existed, the principle of protecting individual property rights prevailed, alongside a necessary acknowledgment that slaves were property first and sentient human beings second. It also required a great deal of careful drafting and verbal contortions to construct the Constitution for the young republic that supported those principles of freedom and equality while at the same time facilitating the perpetuation of the “peculiar institution.”

It wa...