🚀 go-pugleaf

Yes, slavery was legal.  

Why? Because whether blacks were covered under the Constitution
was not clear. Sure, all men have rights, but are blacks men?

The issue was debated until the Constitution was amended to make the legal
standing of blacks clear.

It is also a religious issue, because blacks "had no Christian souls"
and therefore were not men.

The same goes for fetuses today. Are fetuses covered under the
Constitution? So far, the debate continues. That's why the
Republican Party has as a goal of the 1992 Presidency to amend
the Constitution guaranteeing the rights of embryos.

But women are not guaranteed the rights of men by the 
Constitution...

So slavery was a Constitutional issue. No, the sale of liquor
is not guaranteed by the Constitution, nor the sale of cigarettes.
However, the sale of liquor on a Sunday is a separation of church and
state issue, while banning smoking is not. I am not banning smoking because
I think it is immoral.


-- 
 | Shane Wm. McWhorter | Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center | 
 | shane@cc.gatech.edu | Georgia Institute of Technology               |
 |                     | Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0355                   |  
 | Psychophysics, Displays and User Performace in Virtual Environments |