"Negroes," said he, "were our wealth, our only
natural resource; yet behold how our kind friends in the north were
determined soon to tie up our hands, and drain us of what we had! The
Eastern States drew their means of subsistence, in a great measure, from
their shipping; and, on that head, they had been particularly careful
not to allow of any burdens.... Why, then, call this a reciprocal
bargain, which took all from one party, to bestow it on the other!"[39]
In spite of this discussion in the different States, only one State,
Rhode Island, went so far as to propose an amendment directing Congress
to "promote and establish such laws and regulations as may effectually
prevent the importation of slaves of every description, into the United
States."[40]
39. ~Acceptance of the Policy.~ As in the Federal Convention, so in the
State conventions, it is noticeable that the compromise was accepted by
the various States from widely different motives.[41] Nevertheless,
these motives were not fixed and unchangeable, and there was still
discernible a certain underlying agreement in the dislike of slavery.
One cannot help thinking that if the devastation of the late war had not
left an extraordinary demand for slaves in the South,--if, for instance,
there had been in 1787 the same plethora in the slave-market as in
1774,--the future history of the country would have been far different.
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