Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/465

 Here ended the effort, so long and earnestly persisted in, to procure a suspension of the restriction in the ordinance of 1787, so as to admit slavery, for a limited term, into the territory lying between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.

The following is a copy of the resolutions above referred to, passed by the legislative council and house of representatives of the territory of Indiana, and laid before congress:

Resolved, unanimously, by the legislative council and house of representatives of the Indiana Territory, That a suspension of the sixth article of compact between the United States and the territories and states northwest of the river Ohio, passed the 13th day of July, 1787, for the term of ten years, would be highly advantageous to the said territory, and meet the approbation of at least nine-tenths of the good citizens of the same.

Resolved, unanimously, That the abstract question of liberty and slavery is not considered as involved in a suspension of. the said article, inasmuch as the number of slaves in the United States would not be augmented by the measure.

Resolved, unanimously, That the suspension of the said article would be equally advantageous to the territory, to the states from whence the negroes would be brought, and to the negroes themselves. To the territory, because of its situation with regard to the other states; it must be settled by emigrants from those in which slavery is tolerated, or for many years remain in its present situation, its citizens deprived of the greater part of their political rights, and, indeed, of all those which distinguish the American from the citizens and subjects of other governments. The states which are overburdened with negroes would be benefited by their citizens having an opportunity of disposing of the negroes which they cannot comfortably support, or of removing with them to a country abounding with all the necessaries of life; and the negro himself would exchange a scanty pittance of the coarsest food for a plentiful and nourishing diet; and a situation which admits not the most distant prospect of emancipation, for one which presents no considerable obstacle to his wishes.

Resolved, unanimously, That the citizens of this part of the former northwestern territory consider themselves as having claims upon the indulgence of congress in regard to a suspension of the said article, because at the time of the adoption of the ordinance of 1787, slavery was tolerated, and the slaves generally possessed by the citizens then inhabiting the country, amounting at least to onehalf the present population of Indiana, and because the said ordinance was passed in congress when the said citizens were not represented in that body, without their being consulted, and without their knowledge and approbation.

Resolved, unanimously, That from the situation, soil, climate, and productions of the territory, it is not believed that the number of slaves would ever bear such proportion to the white population as to endanger the internal peace and prosperity of the country.

The remaining resolutions require copies of the above to be laid before congress, and instruct the delegate of the territory to use his best endeavors to obtain a suspension of the article.