Slavery was as a thorough-going rejection of the founders’ understanding of natural and civil rights, and served as a corrosive force that undermined the freedom and character of everything it touched. Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass argued that the best way to overcome slavery, and to secure liberty and justice for the freed slaves, was a return to the principles of the Declaration and the Constitution.
Readings
Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, 1784
