JC>  CM> so was slavery Sondra and many men died to keep it legal vainly
JC>  
JC>  Uh, you want to be a little more specific as to where in the 
Constitution 
JC>  find that slavery was ever _legal_ under U.S. Constitutional law? The 
firs
JC>  time I even _find_ the word "slavery" is in the Thirteenth Amendment 
hat
JC>  specifically states that slavery is _illegal_.
JC>  
JC>  Perhaps it was considered by some to be "legal" simply because there was 
N
JC>  federal law saying that it was _illegal_.
Jim, Article IV, Sec. 2 provides some insight into the leagality of slavery.  
Paragraph two states: 
"No person held ins ervice or labout in one state under the laws thereof, 
escaping into another, shall be in consequence of anytlaw or reguliation 
therein, be discharged from such service or labour, but shall be delivered up 
on claim of the party to whome such service or labour may be due.  
(Please excuse the typos, but I was typing while reading my encyclopedia.  
 
This is printed in my 1952 edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica.  
The term "held in service or labour" means that a person is no voluntarily in 
service, (held).  This may apply to criminals fleeing the state, but the law 
is written in such a way that it's unclear as to whether the "party to whom 
such service or labour" is a legal jurisdiction, (as in an escaped prisoner) 
or a wealthy landowner.  This law is what made the Underground Subway into 
Canada necessary.  Otherwise, and escaped slave could have been protected by 
escaping into a nearby "free state."
Also, Article I, Sec. 9 covers the "migration or importation" question quite 
extensively.  By importation, don't they mean "for slavery"?  This too, from 
the Encyclopedia Brittanica.  You may have to find an old one, as the new 
nes
may have been edited, especially those on disk.  
 
The use of terms such as slave and slavery are not used, but the similer, 
ore
"PC" terms are easy to understand.
 
I'm not a supporter of slavery, just one who's a stickler for accuracy when 
discussing this dark episode of this nation's history.
 
Dennis Martin
--- GEcho 1.00
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