Thank you for posting the relevant text from the Confederate constitution regarding the legality of slavery in the existing Confederate states and the admission of future new states and territories.

I have read this same information in the past and draw exactly the opposite conclusion. For me, this section very clearly states that no new states or territories or any existing states may prohibit or limit slavery. If a Confederate state declared itself "free" or non-slave or a new territory entered the Confederacy as a "free state" they could not prohibit slaveowners from entering any Confederate state with their slaves and utilizing their labor. This is not just limited to transfer or the "passing through" of slaves.

And herein lies the problem, how can you read this and come to the conclusion that the wording allows for real "free states" where slaves and slave labor cannot take up permanent residence in the state?

Jim