[22] They urged
Congress to inquire "whether, notwithstanding such seeming impediments,
it be not in reality within your power to exercise justice and mercy,
which, if adhered to, we cannot doubt, must produce the abolition of the
slave trade," etc. Another Quaker petition from New York was also
presented,[23] and both were about to be referred, when Smith of South
Carolina objected, and precipitated a sharp debate.[24] This debate had
a distinctly different tone from that of the preceding one, and
represents another step in pro-slavery doctrine. The key-note of these
utterances was struck by Stone of Maryland, who "feared that if Congress
took any measures indicative of an intention to interfere with the kind
of property alluded to, it would sink it in value very considerably, and
might be injurious to a great number of the citizens, particularly in
the Southern States. He thought the subject was of general concern, and
that the petitioners had no more right to interfere with it than any
other members of the community. It was an unfortunate circumstance, that
it was the disposition of religious sects to imagine they understood the
rights of human nature better than all the world besides."
In vain did men like Madison disclaim all thought of unconstitutional
"interference," and express only a desire to see "If anything is within
the Federal authority to restrain such violation of the rights of
nations and of mankind, as is supposed to be practised in some parts of
the United States.
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