Generally, laws make things illegal.
Procedures are legal until a formal ruling is made against it.
Of course those laws can also be changed.
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Slavery was legal in the United States before it was outlawed due to the Constitution's allowance for the practice and the economic reliance of the southern states on slave labor for agriculture. The Constitution also protected slaveowners' rights and institutions, such as the Fugitive Slave Clause and the Three-Fifths Compromise.
Vermont was the first colony to abolish slavery in its state constitution in 1777. This made it the first state in North America to abolish slavery.
Slavery was outlawed in most northern states by 1804 due to a combination of factors, including the influence of the American Revolution's ideals of liberty and equality, as well as economic conditions that made slavery less viable in the northern states where agriculture was less prevalent than in the South. Additionally, the northern states had more diverse economies and populations, which contributed to shifting attitudes about the morality of slavery.
The pro-slavery groups that went to Kansas to try to keep slavery legal there were called "Border Ruffians." They were made up of individuals from surrounding slave states who used violent tactics to influence the outcome of the slavery debate in Kansas.
Abolitionism was a social and political movement that sought to end the institution of slavery. Abolitionists believed that slavery was morally wrong and worked to promote the emancipation of enslaved individuals and the abolition of slavery as a legal institution.
Massachusetts became the first colony to legalize slavery in what would later become the United States in 1641.