Which speech argues that the Constitution is anti-slavery by its text?

• A. William Lloyd Garrison - On the Constitution and the Union
• B. Frederick Douglass - Constitution Speech (1860)
• C. Lincoln - Protest on Slavery (1837)
• D. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Answer: (B)

The central idea here is reading the Constitution in a way that highlights anti-slavery implications already present in its language and structure. Frederick Douglass’s Constitution Speech from 1860 argues that the document’s text, properly interpreted, supports liberty and rights that stand against bondage. He points to the framework of rights and the mechanisms the Constitution provides—such as due process, the protection of individual liberties, and the power of Congress and the states to regulate or limit slavery in various arenas—as evidence that the Constitution can be read as a charter that undermines slavery rather than sustains it. This approach contrasts with readings that view the Constitution as inherently pro-slavery or as a mere shield for the slaveholding system.

So, Douglass is the one who foregrounds an interpretation of the Constitution’s text as anti-slavery, using the document’s own language and structural protections to argue for emancipation and equal rights.