CHAPTER kidnapping of three colored persons at Boston, enticed II. on board a vessel and carried to the West Indies, where 1790. they were sold as slaves, produced a great excitement in

Massachusetts, and occasioned (1788) a similar prohibitory act there an example speedily imitated by Connecticut and Pennsylvania. But as the Federal Constitution gave to Congress the exclusive regulation of commerce, it had become very questionable whether these laws retained any force.

Nor was the opposition to slavery confined to legislative acts alone. The United Synod of New York and Philadelphia, while constituting themselves as the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, had issued a pastoral letter (1788), in which they strongly recommended the abolition of slavery and the instruction of the negroes in letters and religion. The Methodist Episcopal Church, lately introduced and rapidly increasing, especially in Maryland and Virginia, had even gone so far as to disqualify slave-holders to be members of their communion. Coke, the first bishop, was exceedingly zealous on this subject; but the rule was afterward relaxed. In consequence of the efforts and preaching of Woolman and others, opposition to slavery had come to be a settled tenet of the Quakers.

The same opinions had been taken up as matters of humanity and policy as well as of religion. A society "for promoting the abolition of slavery, for the relief of free negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and for improving the condition of the African race," had been organized in Philadelphia (1787), of which Franklin was president, and Dr. Rush and Tench Coxe secretaries. A similar society had been formed in New York, of which Jay was an active member; and this example already

had been or soon was imitated in all the states from Vir- CHAPTER ginia northward.

II.

A few days after the commencement of the debate on 1790., the public debt, a petition from the yearly meeting of Feb. 11. the Quakers of Pennsylvania and Delaware, seconded by another from the Quakers of New York, had been laid before the House, in which, it was suggested whether, notwithstanding" seeming impediments," occasioned by "the influence and artifice of particular persons, gov erned by the narrow, mistaken views of self-interest," it was not within the power of Congress "to exercise justice and mercy, which, if adhered to," the petitioners could not doubt, "must produce the abolition of the slave trade."

Hartley moved the reference of this memorial to a special committee. Supported by Madison and his colleagues, Parker, Page, and White, by Lawrence, Sedgwick, Boudinot, Sherman, and Gerry, this motion was violently opposed by Smith of South Carolina, Jackson, Tucker, Baldwin, and Burke, not without many sneers at "the men in the gallery"-the Quaker deputation appointed to look after the petition-" who had come here to meddle in a business with which they had nothing to do." Finally, on a suggestion of Clymer's, supported by one of the rules of the House, the memorial was suffered to lie over till the next day.

At the opening of the session that next day, another Feb. 12. petition was presented relating to the same subject, coming from the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. It was signed by Franklin as president—one of the last public acts of his long and diversified career. He died within a few weeks afterward. "That mankind," said this memorial," are all formed by the same Almighty Being, alike objects of his care, and

CHAPTER equally designed for the enjoyment of happiness, the II. Christian religion teaches us to believe, and the political 1790. creed of Americans fully coincides with that position. Your memorialists, particularly engaged in attending to the distresses arising from slavery, believe it their indispensable duty to present this subject to your notice. They have observed, with real satisfaction, that many important and salutary powers are vested in you for promoting the welfare and securing the blessings of liberty to the people of the United States; and as they conceive that these blessings ought rightfully to be administered, without distinctions of color, to all descriptions of people, so they indulge themselves in the pleasing anticipation that nothing which can be done for the relief of the unhappy objects of their care will be either omitted or delayed.

"From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, and is still the birthright of all men, and influenced by the strong ties of humanity and the principles of the Constitution, your memorialists conceive themselves bound to use all justifiable endeavors to loosen the bonds of slavery, and promote a general enjoyment of the blessings of freedom. Under these impressions, they earnestly entreat your serious attention to the subject of slavery, that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men who alone, in this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amid the general joy of sur rounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjection; that you will devise means for removing this inconsistency from the character of the American people; that you will promote mercy and justice toward this distressed race; and that you will step to the very verge of the power vested in you for discouraging every species of traffic in the persons of our fellow-men."

Immediately after the reading of this petition, which CHAPTER could not have much tended to soothe the excitement of the day before, Hartley called up the Quaker memo- 1790. rial, and moved its commitment. In opposition to this motion, Tucker and Burke took the ground that the memorial contained an unconstitutional request, as Con- ̈ gress had no power to meddle with the slave trade for twenty years to come. Tucker pronounced it "a mischievous attempt, an improper interference, at the best, an act of imprudence." Burke was certain that the commitment "would sound an alarm and blow the trumpet of sedition through the Southern States."

"I can not entertain a doubt," said Scott, in reply, "that the memorial is strictly agreeable to the Constitution. It respects a part of the duty particularly assigned to us by that instrument. We can at present lay our hands on a small tax of ten dollars. I would take that; and if that is all we can do, we must be content. I am sorry the framers of the Constitution did not go further, and enable us to interdict the slave trade altogether, for I look upon it to be one of the most abominable things on earth; and if there were neither God nor devil, I should oppose it on principles of humanity and the law of Nature. For my part, I can not conceive how any person can be said to acquire a property in another. The petitioners view the subject in a religious light; but I stand not in need of religious motives to induce me to reprobate the traffic in human flesh. Perhaps, in our legislative capacity, we can go no further than to impose a duty of ten dollars; but I do not know how far I might go if I was one of the judges of the United States, and these people were to come before me and claim their emancipation. I am sure I would go as far as I could." Jackson maintained, in reply, "the qualified

CHAPTER property of the master in his slave;" he referred to the II. example of the republics of antiquity; and relied "on

1790. the whole current of the Bible from Genesis to Revelations," as proving that religion was not against slavery. Sherman could see no difficulty in committing the memorial. It was probable the committee would understand their business, and perhaps they might bring in such a report as would be satisfactory to gentlemen on both sides of the House." Baldwin" was sorry that a subject of so delicate a nature, as respected some of the states, had been brought before Congress. Such gentlemen as had been present at the formation of the Constitution could not but recollect the pain and difficulty which this subject had then occasioned. So tender were the Southern members on this point, that the Convention had well-nigh broken up without coming to any determination. From extreme desire to preserve the Union and to establish an efficient government, mutual concessions had resulted, concessions which the Constitution had jealously guarded. The moment we go to jostle on that ground, I fear we shall feel it tremble under our feet. The clause in the Constitution, that no capitation or direct tax should be laid, except in proportion to the census, was intended to prevent Congress from laying any special tax upon slaves, lest they might in that way so burden the owners as to bring about a general emancipation. Gentlemen have said that this petition does not pray for the abolition of the slave trade; I think, sir, it prays for nothing else, and that, consequently, we have nothing more to do with it, than if it prayed us to establish an order of nobility or a national religion."

The same ground, the unconstitutionality of the object prayed for, was relied upon by Smith of South Carolina