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merce in slaves, and showing they were not precluded from interfering in their importation, and, generally, to regulate the mode in which every species of business shall be transacted. He adverted to the western country, and the cession of Georgia, in which congress has CERTAINLY the power to REGULATE the subject of slavery ; which shows that gentlemen are MISTAKEN in supposing that congress cannot constitutionally interfere in the business, in any degree whatever. He was in favor of committing the petition, and justified the measure by repeated precedents in the proceedings of the house."

"Mr. Gerry entered into a justification of the interference of congress, as being fully compatible with the Constitution. He descanted on the miseries to which the Africans are subjected by this traffic, and said he never contemplated this subject without reflecting what his own feelings would be, in case himself, his children, or friends, were placed in the same deplorable circumstances. He then adverted to the flagrant acts of cruelty which are committed in carrying on that traffic, and asked whether it can be supposed that congress has no power to prevent such transactions as far as possible. He then referred to the Constitution, and pointed out the restrictions laid on the general government respecting the importation of slaves. It is not, he presumed, in the contemplation of any gentleman in this house to violate that part of the Constitution; but that we have a right to regulate this business is as clear as that we have any rights whatever; nor has the contrary been shown by any person who has spoken on the occasion. Congress can, agreeably to the Constitution, lay a duty of ten dollars a head on slaves; they may do this immediately. He made a calculation of the value of slaves in the Southern States: he supposed they might be worth ten millions of dollars. Congress have a right, if they see proper, to make a proposal to the Southern States to

purchase the whole of them; and their resources in the western country may furnish them with the means. He did not mean to suggest a measure of this kind; he only instanced these particulars to show that congress has a right to interfere in this business. He thought that no objection had been offered of any force to prevent the committing the memorial."

"Mr. Boudinot was in favor of the commitment, and enlarged on the idea suggested by Mr. Gerry, and observed the memorial contained only a request that congress would interpose their authority in the cause of humanity and mercy."

"Mr. Gerry and Mr. Stone severally spoke again on the subject. The latter gentleman, in opposition, said that this memorial was a thing of course; for there never was a society of any considerable extent, which did not interfere with the concerns of other people; and this interference, at one time or another, deluged the world in blood. On this principle, he was opposed to the commitment."

"Mr. Tucker moved to modify the first by striking out all after the word 'opinion,' and insert the following: 'that the several memorials proposed for the consideration of this house, a subject on which its interference would be unconstitutional, and even its deliberations highly injurious to some of the States of the Union.""

"Mr. Jackson observed he had been silent on the subject of the report coming before the committee, because he wished the principles of the resolutions to be fairly examined, and to be decided on their true grounds. He was against the proposition generally, and would examine the policy, the justice, and the use of them; and he hoped, if he could make them appear in the same light to others as they did to him, by fair arguments, that the gentlemen in opposition were not so determined in their opinions as not to give up their present sentiments.

"With respect to the policy of the measure, the situation of the slaves here, their situation in their native States, and the disposition of them in case emancipation, should be considered. That slavery was an evil habit he did not mean to controvert; but that habit was already established, and there were peculiar situations in countries which rendered that habit necessary. Such situations the States of South Carolina and Georgia were in; large tracts of the most fertile land on the continent remained uncultivated for the want of population. It was frequently advanced on the floor of congress, how unhealthy those climates were, and how impossible it was for northern constitutions to exist there. What, he asked, is to be done with this uncultivated territory? Is it to remain a waste? Is the rice trade to be banished from our coast? Is congress willing to deprive itself of the revenue arising from that trade, which is daily increasing, and throw this great advantage into the hands of other countries?

"Let us examine the use or benefit contained in the report. I call upon gentlemen to give me one single instance in which they can be of any service. They are of no use to congress. The powers of that body are already defined, and those powers cannot be amended, confirmed, or diminished, by ten thousand resolutions. Is not the first proposition of the report contained in the Constitution? Is not that the guide and rule of legislation? A multiplicity of laws is reprobated in society, and tends to confound and perplex. How strange would a law appear to confirm a law; and how much more strange must it appear for this body to pass resolutions to confirm the Constitution under which they sit! This is the case with others of the resolutions.

"A gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Stone) very properly observed that the Union had received the States with all their evil habits about them. This was one of

those habits, established long before the Constitution, and could not now be remedied. He begged congress to reflect on the number on the continent who were opposed to this Constitution, and on the number which yet remained in the Southern States.

"The violation of this compact they would seize on with avidity; they would make a handle of it to cover their designs against the government, and many good federalists, who would be injured by the measure, would be induced to join them; his heart was truly federal, and it had always been so; and he wished those designs frustrated. He begged congress to beware before they went too far; he called on them to attend to the interests of two whole States, as well as a memorial of a society of Quakers, who came forward to blow the trumpet of sedition, and to destroy that Constitution which they had not in the least contributed, by personal services or supply, to establish.

"He seconded Mr. Tucker's motion."

It would seem, from Mr. Jackson's observations, he thought the memorial was so much in harmony with the Constitution that congress would, by adopting its principles, be but making resolutions confirmatory of their acknowledged powers; and also the thought never struck him the African could have willingly emigrated to this country, if proper means had been used to induce him to come, as well as to have brought him here by force, and against his consent.

"Mr. Smith, of South Carolina, said the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Gerry) had declared it was the opinion of the select committee of which he was a member that the memorial from the Pennsylvania society required congress to violate the Constitution. It was

not less astonishing to see Dr. Franklin taking the lead in a business which looks so much like persecution of the southern inhabitants, when he recollected the parable he had written some time ago, with a view of showing the impropriety of one set of men persecuting others for a difference of opinion. The parable was to this effect: An old traveller, hungry and weary, applied to the patriarch Abraham for a night's lodging. In conversation, Abraham discovered the stranger differed from him on religious points, and turned him out of doors. In the night God appeared unto Abraham, and said, Where is the stranger? Abraham answered, I found that he did not worship the true God, and so I turned him out of doors. The Almighty thus rebuked the patriarch: Have I borne with him threescore and ten years, and couldst not thou bear with him one night?' Has not the Almighty, said Mr. Smith, borne with us more than threescore and ten years? He has even made our country opulent, and shed the blessings of affluence and prosperity on our land, notwithstanding all its slaves, and must we now be ruined on account of the tender consciences of a few scrupulous individuals who differ from us on this point?

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"Mr. Boudinot agreed with the general doctrines of Mr. S. but could not agree that the clause in the Constitution relating to the want of power in congress prohibit the 'importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, prior to the year 1808, and authorizing a tax or duty on such importations, not exceeding ten dollars for each person, did not extend to negro slaves. Candor required that he should acknowledge that this was the express design of the Constitution; and therefore congress could not interfere in prohibiting the importation, or promoting the emancipation, of them, prior to that period.

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