lished on the statement, "In Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" (Constitution). From this, the authority of the Constitution of the United States, as a legal document by which the American people abide, is contradicted and appears utterly ridiculous in the face of slavery. Although "slavery, slaveholding, nor slave can anywhere be found in it," those who do possess slaves do so by their own interpretation of the document (1835). The delegates to the Continental Congress provided that three-fifths of "all other Persons" would be counted in determining the number of congressmen each state could elect to the House and also requires the return to their owners of fugitive slaves, or "persons held to Service or Labour"(Constitution).
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