Edited sentence: Jaffa’s claim that “South Carolina was [not] separating itself from the government of the Union because that government had become destructive of the ends for which it was established” is belied by the clear fact that the United States Constitution guaranteed the right of property to South Carolinian slaveholders, provided for the return of fugitive slaves, etc.Of course, slaves were not citizens, and were instead subject to domestic government.The Declaration of Independence and Constitution of the United States do not propose the elimination of slavery, or the equality of the White and Black races, as the purpose or end of government.The Northern States unquestionably were actively undermining these guarantees