Answer:
Because something is legal does not make it moral. History
is filled with examples of practices that were legal at one time but that today
are illegal and, in retrospect, are viewed as immoral.
Explanation:
The practice of slavery was legal once but with great effort
and the sacrifice of many lives, it was eventually outlawed. The proponents of slavery made some of the same arguments in support of slavery that proponents of keeping cigarettes legal make today. Those in favor of slavery defended their right to run their business free of government intervention. Because slavery was the foundation of an efficient economic system, to outlaw slavery would ruin the economy.
Regardless of the economic consequences of ending slavery, ending the inherent evil of slave labor was worth what it cost to end the practice. Today we look back on a time when it was legal to own another human being and wonder how people of the time justified slavery. I believe one day people will look back on a time when, for economic reasons, millions of Americans died from exposure to cigarettes and those people will wonder how we justified making cigarettes legal.
