>>149447110Doesn't matter, the statement is still "the founding documents were wrong".
And slaves were considered human, just... "less" human, "Some animals are more equal than others" style. The predominant rationale for slavery at the time was that god ordained slavery as an institution, and it was necessary as "moral education" for black people and they should accept their "natural place". This philosophy is obviously incompatible with the enlightenment idea that "all men are created equal", since one presumes a natural god-ordained hierarchy wherein some are masters and some are slaves, while the other assumes that all are equal before god and that hierarchical systems like slavery or feudalism are human artifice.
>>149447134Sure, but slavery wasn't popular in the new territories. Even in the deep south, planters and overseers were a tiny minority, and only maintained political dominance through a combination of terrorism and being absurdly richer than everyone else. "You can keep doing that, but not do it MORE" was the best deal they could or would get, which is why they rebelled.