I never much kept up with the slavery debate for the territories, but in the last year I have learned of the existence of Article IV Section 2, and as a result I no longer understand why there could have been any debate about it.
With the constitution explicitly guarantying that slaves must be returned to their masters, how does one realistically abolish slavery in the territories, or even in "free" states?
How do you stop slave owners from going into the territories or free states with their slaves?
You’ve got it. The CW was not about the continuation of slavery where it was established, it was about the expansion of slavery into territories and states where it didn’t exist in the particular southern form.
I see that as the question that drove the debate on slavery from our founding until the Civil War.