How Did the Constitutional Convention Deal with Slavery? by Professor Gordon Lloyd. This short video explains the differing perspectives that emerged about the Constitution and slavery. Some individuals, like Frederick Douglass, believed that the Founders put slavery on the road to extinction while others, like Roger Taney, believed that the Constitution was a slaveholders’ document. Professor Gordon Lloyd contends that the slavery clauses in the Constitution both limited and expanded slavery’s impact on the nation, and that the Founders alone do not bear responsibility for slavery’s later expansion. American History Videos are sponsored by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation. These videos are offered to help teachers, students and the general public learn more about America's founding and the Constitution of the United States. www.jamesmadison.gov.