However, when these same advocates were faced with the possibility of losing their political power by living in accordance with their own arguments, they admitted that they understood the people they had under their absolute control were men and not animals. Such an admission was tantamount to declaring that they didn't really believe in equality, but instead wanted to protect their own liberty to live their preferred way of life. They formed arguments for states' rights, which consisted of a kind of collectivized justification of liberty at the state level rather than on the personal level, and threatened to reject the constitution if their rights were not protected. The North, on the other hand, had rid itself of slavery earlier in its history, driven by the moral arguments of abolitionists and the fact that their economy had never really depended on slavery. They espoused a belief in equality but were...
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