Thomas Jefferson famously concluded that slavery was like holding a "wolf by the ear . . . we can neither hold him nor let him go." By 1860, the issue of slavery would tear the nation in two and lead to a bloody civil war. In this essay, discuss how the institution of slavery developed in American life from the formation of the constitution through the early abolitionists. What forces drove it, economically, politically, socially, culturally? Was it possible to stop or limit slavery prior to the Civil War in the 1860s? In your answer, consider the efforts made to contain, limit, or abolish the peculiar institution, both by white politicians and by slaves themselves.