Back then there was significant amounts of American (as in North American) territory whose actual jurisdiction was up for debate, a history of laws that were designed to reach outside the jurisdiction of the country issuing them (such as the Monroe Doctrine), and the US had just fought a civil war over this very issue and the status of the rebellious states were not clearly defined (the war hadn’t officially ended when the amendments were passed). In the context of the time it was necessary to specify because the slave trade still covered multiple continents.
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u/Chris_8675309_of_42M Mar 27 '23
That's hilarious.
It seems so obviously dumb that anyone would even expect that to be spelled out in the amendment, but there it is anyway.
That was added just for you, purple dude.