In the Hopper: So long, slavery; quality ed; House guns.

Byline: Kevin Featherly

Editor's note: In the Hopper is a summary of Minnesota legislation of interest to the legal community.

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So long, slavery. In a unanimous vote, House Judiciary last week took a step toward eliminating slavery and involuntary servitude from the Minnesota Constitution.

House File 3008, from Judiciary Committee Chair John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, passed on a unanimous voice vote on Feb. 25. From there it was sent to the House Corrections Division, which was scheduled to hear it on March 4, after this edition's deadline.

The bill would ask voters to amend Article 1, Section 2 of the Minnesota Constitution, which currently reads, "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as a punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted."

"That sentence problematically suggests the possibility of legal enslavement for convicts," said Christopher Lehman, a St. Cloud State University professor and author of "Slavery's Reach: Southern Slaveholders in the North Star State." The instructor testified for the bill.

The slavery language, which is mirrored in the U.S. Constitution's 13th Amendment, has its roots in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Lehman said.

For 14 months after the U.S. Supreme Court's 1857 Dred Scott v Sandford decision, slavery was technically legal in the Minnesota territory. That changed when Minnesota officially became a free state in 1858. The Northwest Ordinance languagewhich at the time was considered anti-slaverywas incorporated into its constitution.

Slavery left a mark on the state, Lehman said. Besides being Dred Scott's home during a crucial time in his life, Minnesota attracted big investments from slaveholding interests, which helped establish the University of Minnesota and the towns of Belle Plaine and Shakopee. Many local fur tradersincluding future governors Henry Sibley and Henry Riceworked for the American Fur Company, which include slaveholding partners.

Deleting references to slavery from the constitution would achieve two aims, Lehman said. "First, the state will make the statement that slavery has no place in Minnesota today in any capacity," said Lehman, who teaches ethnic studies at St. Cloud.

"Second, and just as important," he said, "the state will finally sever all legal links between slavery and criminal convictions."

Corrections Commissioner Paul Schnell favors the ballot initiative. "The Minnesota Department of Corrections exists to...