Obviously, by the standards at the time, slavery was a legal institution  and 
protected by the Constitution , the statues of the United States,  and the 
individual states in which it existed.  This indicates that is was  in fact an 
acceptable institution in the US at the time it existed in the eyes  of the 
law, and the US is a country governed by the rule of law.
 
The morality of it was another matter.  However, the general  presumption is 
that if something is protected by the laws of the jurisdiction,  it is 
considered "moral" by those who choose to live therein.
 
Equally obvious, it is not an institution that anyone today would find  
acceptable, although in Africa and parts of the Muslim world they still practice  
it.
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