Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Slavery volume 5 .djvu/41

Rh we deplore it with, all the pity of humanity." "It would rejoice my very soul that every one of my fellow-beings was emancipated." Said Mr Johnson, "Slavery has been the foundation of that impiety and dissipation which have been so much disseminated among our countrymen. If it were totally abolished it would do much good."

In the North Carolina Convention, it was found necessary to apologize for the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. Mr Iredell in defence said, the matter of slavery "was regulated with great difficulty, and by a spirit of concession which it would not be prudent to disturb for a good many years." "It is probable that all the members reprobated this inhuman traffic [in slaves], but those of South Carolina and Georgia would not consent to an immediate prohibition of it." "Were it practicable to put an end to the importation of slaves immediately, it would give him the greatest pleasure." "When the entire abolition of slavery takes place it will be an event which must be pleasing to every generous mind and every friend of human nature." Mr McDowall looked upon the slave-trade "as a very objectionable part of the system." Mr Goudy did not wish "to be represented with negroes."

In the South Carolina Convention, Gen. Pinckney admitted that the Carolinas and Georgia were so weak that they "could not form a union strong enough for the purpose of effectually protecting each other;" it was their policy therefore "to form a close union with the Eastern States who are strong;" the Eastern States had been the greatest sufferers in the revolution, they had "lost everything but their country and their freedom;" "we," the Carolinas and Georgia, "should let them, in some measure, partake of our prosperity." But the union could come only from a compromise; "we have secured an unlimited importation of negroes for twenty years." "We have obtained a right to recover our slaves in whatever part of America they shall take refuge, which is a right we had not before." "We have made the best terms for the security of this species of property it was in our power to make; we would have made better if we could, but on the whole I do not think them bad." No one in South Carolina, it seems, thought slavery an evil.

Thus the Constitution was assented to as "the result of