When it is
recollected that no poll tax can be imposed on _five_ negroes, above
what _three_ whites shall be charged; when it is considered, that the
imposts on the consumption of Carolina field negroes must be trifling,
and the excise nothing, it is plain that the proportion of
contributions, which can be expected from the southern states under the
new constitution, will be unequal, and yet they are to be allowed to
enfeeble themselves by the further importation of negroes till the year
1808. Has not the concurrence of the five southern states (in the
convention) to the new system, been purchased too dearly by the
rest?"[26]
Noah Webster's "Examination" (1787) addressed itself to such Quaker
scruples: "But, say the enemies of slavery, negroes may be imported for
twenty-one years. This exception is addressed to the quakers, and a very
pitiful exception it is. The truth is, Congress cannot prohibit the
importation of slaves during that period; but the laws against the
importation into particular states, stand unrepealed. An immediate
abolition of slavery would bring ruin upon the whites, and misery upon
the blacks, in the southern states. The constitution has therefore
wisely left each state to pursue its own measures, with respect to this
article of legislation, during the period of twenty-one years."[27]
The following year the "Examination" of Tench Coxe said: "The temporary
reservation of any particular matter must ever be deemed an admission
that it should be done away.
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