How could slavery exist when it is contrary to natural law?

Professor Richard Epstein discusses how early lawgivers acknowledged the natural law position while working within the positive law that allowed slavery. Even President Abraham Lincoln was careful and judicious in approaching the slavery issue. The Reconstruction Amendments need to be examined with an understanding of the doubt and turmoil that preceded their passage, rather than being thought of as a foregone conclusion.

Professor Richard Epstein is the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law at NYU School of Law, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Professor of Law Emeritus and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago.

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

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