31. ~The Action of the Confederation.~ The slave-trade was hardly
touched upon in the Congress of the Confederation, except in the
ordinance respecting the capture of slaves, and on the occasion of the
Quaker petition against the trade, although, during the debate on the
Articles of Confederation, the counting of slaves as well as of freemen
in the apportionment of taxes was urged as a measure that would check
further importation of Negroes. "It is our duty," said Wilson of
Pennsylvania, "to lay every discouragement on the importation of slaves;
but this amendment [i.e., to count two slaves as one freeman] would give
the _jus trium liberorum_ to him who would import slaves."[35] The
matter was finally compromised by apportioning requisitions according to
the value of land and buildings.
After the Articles went into operation, an ordinance in regard to the
recapture of fugitive slaves provided that, if the capture was made on
the sea below high-water mark, and the Negro was not claimed, he should
be freed. Matthews of South Carolina demanded the yeas and nays on this
proposition, with the result that only the vote of his State was
recorded against it.[36]
On Tuesday, October 3, 1783, a deputation from the Yearly Meeting of the
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware Friends asked leave to present a
petition. Leave was granted the following day,[37] but no further minute
appears.
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