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Montagnagrasso t1_ja5sxmv wrote

To be more specific, it was about preserving slavery which had been a de facto practice since euro-american settlers were induced to the area in the early 1820s. Technically it was already illegal, but many of the settlers simply wrote up “contracts” for all the slaves that they were bringing from the states (and importing from Cuba and Africa for several decades after importing slaves was banned in the US) of 99 years, so that legally they were free (but indentured) workers. In practice it was literally just slavery with extra steps.

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