VT Senate Seeks To Amend State Constitution To Prohibit — Slavery

Despite federal laws banning slavery, and despite the fact Vermont's constitution was the first in America to ban it, the VT senate has passed a proposal to amend the constitution to "clarify" that all forms of slavery are banned.

As it presently reads, the Vermont Constitution states in Article 1 that "no person born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person as a servant, slave or apprentice, after arriving to the age of twenty-one years, unless bound by the person's own consent, after arriving to such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like."