The one really nuclear step the federal government could have taken - had it been securely controlled by opponents of slavery - would be to ban the interstate slave trade. Would have strangled slavery in Virginia & Maryland quickly.https://twitter.com/RBrookhiser/status/1424539923802214409 …
It accepts as a reality the intrastate institution. It is silent on the interstate trade, except that it precludes a ban on the foreign trade prior to 1807.