> While it's a politically controversial opinion, if the framers had extended 'indentured servitude' status to all slaves in the colonies at the time (a common

> While it's a politically controversial opinion, if the framers had extended 'indentured servitude' status to all slaves in the colonies at the time (a common status for many European migrants in the Middle Colonies, generally involving a ten-year period of forced labor before freedom was granted), it's entirely possible that the US Civil War could have been avoided. Some argue that southern slave states would never have gone along with this, however. I'm pretty sure the South wouldn't have gone along with something like that unless the date was set very far in the future (e.g. much longer than a lifetime). The Constitution banned import of new slaves starting 20 years after ratification, and IIRC that only passed because the slaveholders thought they'd have enough by then to have a self-sustaining population.