Opinion: A Call to Revive ‘Federal Consensus’ on Constitution Day (by Steven Berizzi, CT State Norwalk professor)
Beginning with the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution, and continuing until the 13th Amendment was ratified, the American government informally followed an agreement that only state governments could abolish slavery within their borders. Historians call this the “federal consensus.” Furthermore, according to Civil War historian James Oakes, the same principle provided that, “Congress had no power to interfere with emancipation in the states.”
