They were all against it, except on their own farms. You have to remember that in those days, slavery was NOT a taboo subject - virtually any one rich enough had some - but they weren't even called "slaves" - they were just 'unpaid labor'. They had no rights, no education, and no future - like, for the most part, women of the time. In fact, most slaves were probably treated better than women. A freed slave could vote. A woman couldn't. It wasn't until those nosy Quakers started making a fuss about it, and the Industrial North realized the Agricultural South got all sorts of free labor that some busybodys wanted either the end to "free labor", or "free labor" themselves. But there wasn't enough cotton being grown in Massachusetts to make it worth while, so they decided to outlaw it. Most places. Except where it made sense. You could have slaves in Arizona. But not in Kansas. Making a new territory "Free" meant that, for the most part, no Negroes would be there, thus leaving more for the White man to divvy up. Herewith, a quote from the Wilmot Proviso, introduced in Congress during the War with Mexico, to make any land won during the war "free soil" : "I would preserve to free white labor a fair country, a rich inheritance, where the sons of toil, of my own race and color, can live without the disgrace which association with Negro slavery brings upon free labor."
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