Had the Constitution dropped down from the blue overhanging sky, upon a land uncursed by slavery, and without an interpreter, although some difficulty might have occurred in applying its manifold provisions,
yet so cunningly is it framed, that no one would have imagined that it recognized or sanctioned slavery.
But having a terrestrial, and not a celestial origin, we find no difficulty in ascertaining its meaning in all
the parts which we allege to relate to slavery. Slavery existed before the Constitution, in the very States
by whom it was made and adopted. - Slaveholders took a large share in making it. It was made in view
of the existence of slavery, and in a manner well calculated to aid and strengthen that heaven-daring
crime.