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| Joined: | Sat Jan 27th, 2007 |
| Location: | Texas USA |
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There was no way for slavery to be banned throughout the colonies in 1776. There was no recognized federal authority that had the power to do so at that time. The Continental Congress would never have claimed that authority, even if it felt inclined to do so. (Which it didn't).
Individual states began to abolish slavery after 1776, but the southern states had no inclination to consider the idea.
Just The Beginning Foundation : State and Federal Efforts to End Slavery
When the Federal Government came into being after the Constitutional Convention, it was clear that the Founding Fathers could not completely solve the problem of slavery and still be able to get enough states to ratify the new Constitution. Some compromises were made regarding the slave trade, but the southern states would not have gone along with a total abolition nationwide.
As time passed, the two sections became more and more different in their structures. Compromises on slavery and other issues were made for the next 70 years, but eventually the differences became more profound and the additional stresses caused by western expansion in the end reached a point where further compromises could no longer be found.