CHAPTER I
In consideration of much that appears in the numerous contributions to the discussion of the Negro Question, it must be noticeable that in recent years, there has been quite a broadening of the field, and that, from what was in the past, mainly a question of slavery or freedom, for one particular class of people, in one great country, we have advanced to a consideration of what may effect the entire world in that, which has been entitled by some: “The Conflict of Color,” and by others not quite so pessimistic: “The Question of the Twentieth Century, the Question of Color.”
In such circumstances, an examination of the evolution of this question and a recital of some of the phases under which it has been brought up for discussion in the history of the United States, may tend to correct some misapprehensions and throw some additional light upon a subject, which, in spite of the efforts to suppress it, is continually forcing itself upon the attention of the world.
While freely admitting the impossibility of discussing this subject, within any reasonable limits, without necessarily omitting mention of many publications, containing an amount of extremely valuable information, the aim of this work will be to trace the evolution of the question as it has appeared, in the expression of both whites and Negroes, in that country in which public opinion is said to exercise the greatest influence upon government. In undertaking such an examination it would be hardly necessary to make any very close scrutiny of the Colonial period, from the fact that while there was opinion that found expression in acts, statements and laws, the colonies, being under the control of Great Britain, were subjected to her policies and representative of her civilization. The extraordinary case therefore of a Massachusetts slave-owner, Maverick, who simply for breeding purposes, in 1636, forced an African woman of high rank, owned by him, to accept the embraces of a common young Negro[1] was but a way of expressing contempt for the race. The Maryland Act of 1663, a far less coarse expression, involved all white women who failed to entertain it. In Stroud’s “Sketch of the laws of Slavery,” published in 1827, we find on page 2:
“Section 2. And forasmuch as divers free born English women forgetful of their free condition, and to the disgrace of our nation do intermarry with Negro slaves” such “free born women ... shall serve the master of such slave during the life of her husband and all the issue of such free born women, so married shall be slaves as their fathers were.”
Yet despite these two striking illustrations at these early dates, broadly speaking, we might claim that in British America “up to 1700 and perhaps beyond, the sentiment North and South concerning the Negro or his enslavement differed but slightly; for while the South Carolina Act of 1690 did provide severe regulations for Negro and Indian slaves, a study of the statutes from 1698”[2] “and later of the press, indicates a sentiment against the importation of Negroes, which however was forced upon that province, as upon others, by the British Government.”[3]
The Revolutionary war, which shook off this controlling force, associated the States together, under the Articles of Confederation, thus paving the way for that great experiment, the Constitutional Federal Republic, which succeeded it.
It was in the deliberations of the great Convention, which framed that “more perfect union”, that the Negro question really first arose, as a matter of vital political concern; nor among all the questions which confronted that extraordinary body, did there appear a graver one, than that affecting the status of the colored people of the Union.
This class represented, at that time, about one-fifth of the population of the thirteen States, which it was the aim to unite, or 737,208 blacks as against 3,172,006 whites[4], and while of these 737,208 colored persons some 59,527 were free, in every one of the thirteen States, except Massachusetts, there were slaves, and in only one State, outside of New England, Pennsylvania, were free persons of color more numerous than slaves.
In eight of the thirteen States the Negro slaves greatly outnumbered the free persons of color; while in still another, with a total of 5,572 colored persons, the colored freedmen exceeded the slaves by only 54.
Under these conditions, it was not unnatural that the question should have presented itself as one of slavery versus freedom, rather than Negroes versus whites, and for the seventy years in which slavery continued to exist, that fact served to obscure, to quite an extent, the appreciation of the distinct question of color and race. Yet by some, at an exceedingly early date, it was recognized, that apart from the consideration of how they might be held, the mere presence in the Republic of a large and growing number of people of an inferior race, presented a serious problem.
When the consideration of the basis upon which Federal representation should rest, and direct taxes be apportioned, was reached, the framers of the Constitution found themselves, therefore, confronted with a political question of the first magnitude, in the existence of the slave trade.
What was the slave? A man or a chattel?
The question was precipitated by a clause in the report of the committee of detail, presented by John Rutledge, of South Carolina, Article 7, Section 4. “No tax or duty shall be laid by the Legislature on articles exported from any State nor on the migration or importation of such persons as the several States shall think proper to admit, nor shall such migration or importation be prohibited.”[5]
In the light of what followed, of the existing legislation upon that subject in the State of South Carolina, and the history of the province and State, the introduction of the concluding clause of this section by her most distinguished representative was unfortunate. It gave rise to declarations concerning the State which not only do not seem to have been absolutely borne out by the facts; but which the actions and votes of her deputies themselves, to some extent stultified; yet the State was nevertheless stamped with an unenviable precedence in a matter in which she cast but one of the seven votes, in a total of eleven, by which the final decision was arrived at.
In the discussion which immediately arose upon the introduction of the report, four views with regard to this clause found expression.
Luther Martin, of Maryland, a Representative from a State, which, as will subsequently be shown, could have then been described as the most complete slave State of the thirteen, had nevertheless the discernment to realize the dangers of such a condition, and proposed to alter the section, so as to allow a prohibition or tax on the importation of slaves. He presented three grounds of objection to the denial of such: “1. As five slaves are to be counted as three free-men in the apportionment of Representatives, such a clause would leave an encouragement of the traffic. 2. Slaves weakened one part of the Union, which the other parts were bound to protect; the privilege of importing them was, therefore, unreasonable. 3. It was inconsistent with the principles of the Revolution and dishonorable to the American character to have such features in the Constitution.”
In defending the clause Mr. Rutledge was not conciliatory. He “did not see how the importation of slaves could be encouraged by this section. He was not apprehensive of insurrections and would readily exempt the other States from their obligations to protect the Southern States against them. Religion and humanity had nothing to do with the question. Interest alone is the governing principle with nations. The true question at present is whether the Southern States shall or shall not be parties to the Union. If the Northern States consult their interest they will not oppose the increase of slaves which will increase the commodities of which they will become the consumers.”
Mr. Ellsworth of Connecticut supported the clause in an argument pitched upon the same utilitarian plane, but strengthened with what was an assertion of the doctrine of States rights. He “was for leaving the clause as it stands. Let every State import what it pleases. The morality or wisdom of slavery are considerations belonging to the States themselves. What enriches a part enriches the whole, and the States are the best judges of their particular interests. The old Confederation had not meddled with this point and he did not see any greater necessity for bringing it within the policy of the new one.”
Mr. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, while upholding the view of Mr. Rutledge, held out a hope of subsequent accord. He said “South Carolina can never receive the plan, if it prohibits the slave trade. In every proposed extension of the powers of Congress, that State has expressly and watchfully excepted that of meddling with the importation of Negroes. If the States be all left at liberty on the subject, South Carolina may perhaps by degrees do of herself what is wished, as Virginia and Maryland have already done.”[6]
Upon the following day the discussion was resumed.
Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, “was for leaving the clause as it stands. He disapproved of the slave trade; yet as the States were now possessed of the right to import slaves, as the public good did not require it to be taken from them and as it was expedient to have as few objections as possible to the proposed scheme of Government, thought it best to leave the matter as we found it. He observed that the abolition of slavery seemed to be going on in the United States, and that the good sense of the several States would probably by degrees complete it. He urged upon the Convention the necessity of dispatching its business.”
Col. Mason, of Virginia, took very high ground. He declared: “This infernal traffic originated in the avarice of the British merchants. The British Government constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to put a stop to it. The present question concerns not the importing States alone, but the whole Union. The evil of having slaves was experienced during the late war. Had slaves been treated as they might have been by the enemy, they would have proved dangerous instruments in their hands. But their folly dealt by the slaves as it did by the Tories. He mentioned the dangerous insurrections of the slaves in Greece and Sicily, and the instructions given by Cromwell to the commissioners sent to Virginia to arm the servants and slaves in case other means of obtaining submission should fail. Maryland and Virginia, he said, had already prohibited the importation of slaves expressly. North Carolina had done the same in substance. All this would be vain, if South Carolina and Georgia be at liberty to import. The Western people are already calling out for slaves in their new lands, and will fill that country with slaves, if they can be got through South Carolina and Georgia. Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the immigration of whites, who really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce the most pernicious effect on morals. Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of Heaven on a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects Providence punishes national sins by national calamities. He lamented that some of our Eastern brethren had, from a lust of gain, embarked in this nefarious traffic. As to the States being in possession of the right to import, this was the case with many other rights now to be properly given up. He held it essential in every point of view that the General Government should have power to prevent the increase of slavery.”
Mr. Ellsworth spoke again, and quite to the point: “As he had never owned a slave, could not judge of the effect of slavery on character. He said, however, that if it was to be considered in a moral light, we ought to go further and free those already in the country. As slaves also multiply so fast in Virginia and Maryland that it is cheaper to raise than import them, whilst in the sickly swamps foreign supplies are necessary. If we go no further than is urged we shall be unjust to South Carolina and Georgia. Let us not intermeddle. As population increases, poor laborers will be so plenty as to render slaves useless. Slavery in time will not be a speck in our country. Provision is already made in Connecticut for abolishing it. And the abolition has already taken place in Massachusetts. As to the danger of insurrection from foreign influence that will become a motive to kind treatment of the slaves.”
Mr. Charles Pinckney said: “If slavery be wrong it is justified by the example of all the world. He cited the case of Greece, Rome and other States; the sanction given by France, England, Holland and other modern States. In all ages one half of mankind have been slaves. If the Southern States were left alone they will probably of themselves stop importation. He would himself, as a citizen of South Carolina, vote for it. An attempt to take away the right, as proposed, will produce serious objections to the Constitution which he wished to see adopted.”
Gen. C. C. Pinckney “declared it to be his firm opinion that if himself and all his colleagues were to sign the Constitution and use their personal influence it would be of no avail towards obtaining the assent of their constituents. South Carolina and Georgia cannot do without slaves. As to Virginia, she will gain by stopping the importations. Her slaves will rise in value and she has more than she wants. It would be unequal to require South Carolina and Georgia to confederate on such unequal terms. He said the royal assent before the Revolution had never been refused to South Carolina as to Virginia. He contended that the importation of Slaves would be for the interest of the Whole Union. The more slaves the more produce to employ the carrying trade. The more consumption also, and the more of this the more of revenue for the common treasury. He admitted it to be reasonable that slaves should be dutied like other imports, but should consider a rejection of the clause as an exclusion of South Carolina from the Union.”
Mr. Baldwin, of Georgia, “had conceived national objects alone to be before the Convention, not such as like the present were of a local nature. Georgia was decided on this point. That State has always hitherto supposed a General Government to be the pursuit of the central States who wished to have a vortex for everything—that her distance would preclude her from equal advantage—and that she could not prudently purchase it by yielding national powers. From this it might be understood in what light she would view an attempt to abridge her favorite prerogative. If left to herself she may probably put a stop to the evil. As one ground for this conjecture he took notice of the sect of which he said was a respectable class of people who carried their ethics beyond the mere equality of men, extending their humanity to the claims of the whole animal creation.”
Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, “observed that if South Carolina and Georgia were themselves disposed to get rid of the importation of slaves in a short time, as had been suggested, they would never refuse to unite because the importation might be prohibited. As the section now stands all articles imported are to be taxed. Slaves alone are exempt. This is in fact a bounty on that article.”
Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, “thought we had nothing to do with the conduct of the States as to slaves, but ought to be careful not to give any sanction to it.”
Mr. Dickinson, of Delaware, “considered it as inadmissible on every principle of honor and safety that the importation of slaves should be authorized to the States by the Constitution. The true question was whether the national happiness would be promoted or impeded by the importation, and the question ought to be left to the National Government, not to the States particularly interested. If England and France permit slavery, slaves are at the same time excluded from both these kingdoms. Greece and Rome were made unhappy by their slaves. He could not believe that the Southern States would refuse to confederate on the account apprehended; especially as the power was not likely to be immediately exercised by the General Government.”
Mr. Williamson, of North Carolina, “stated the law of North Carolina on the subject, to wit, that it did not directly prohibit the importation of slaves. It imposed a duty of five pounds on each slave imported from Africa. Ten pounds on each from elsewhere, and fifty pounds on each from a State licensing manumission. He thought the Southern States could not be members of the Union if the clause should be rejected, and that it was wrong to force anything down not absolutely necessary and which any State must disagree to.”
Mr. King, of Massachusetts, “thought the subject should be considered in a political light only. If two States will not agree to the Constitution as stated on one side, he could affirm with equal belief on the other that great and equal opposition would be experienced from the other States. He remarked on the exemption of slaves from duty, while every other import was subjected to it, as an inequality that could not fail to strike the commercial sagacity of the Northern and Middle States.”
Mr. Langdon, of New Hampshire, “was strenuous for giving the power to the General Government. He could not with a good conscience leave it with the States who could then go on with the traffic, without being restrained by the opinion here given that they will themselves cease to import slaves.”
Gen. Pinckney, “thought himself bound to declare candidly that he did not think South Carolina would stop her importation of slaves in any short time, but only stop them occasionally as she now does. He moved to commit the clause that slaves might be made liable to an equal tax with other imports, which he thought right, and which would remove one difficulty that had been started.”
Mr. Rutledge remarked: “If the Convention thinks that North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia will ever agree to the plan, unless their right to import slaves be untouched, the expectation is vain. The people of these States will never be such fools as to give up so important an interest. He was strenuous against striking out the section and seconded the motion of Gen. Pinckney for a commitment.”
Mr. Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania, “wished the whole subject to be committed, including the clauses relating to taxes on exports, and on a Navigation Act. These things may form a bargain among the Northern and Southern States.”
Mr. Butler, of South Carolina, declared, “that he would never agree to the power of taxing exports.”
Mr. Sherman said: “It was better to let the Southern States import slaves than to part with them, if they made that a sine qua non. He was opposed to a tax on slaves imported as making the matter worse, because it implied they were property. He acknowledged that if the power of prohibiting the importation should be given to the General Government that it would be exercised. He thought it would be its duty to exercise the power.”
Mr. Reed, of Delaware, “was for the commitment provided the clause concerning taxes on exports should also be committed.”
Mr. Sherman, observed: “that that clause had been agreed to and therefore could not be committed.”
Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, “was for committing in order that some middle ground, if possible, be found. He could never agree to the clause as it stands. He would sooner risk the Constitution. He dwelt on the dilemma to which the Constitution was exposed by agreeing to the clause it would revolt the Quakers, the Methodists and many others in the States having no slaves. On the other hand, two States might be lost to the Union. Let us then,” he said, “try the chance of a commitment.”[7]
On the question of committing, the vote was: New Hampshire, no; Massachusetts, abstaining from voting; Connecticut, aye; New Jersey, aye; Pennsylvania, no; Delaware, no; Maryland, aye; Virginia, aye; North Carolina, aye; South Carolina, aye; Georgia, aye;[8] In a total of eleven States at Convention seven ayes, three noes, one not voting.
The clause having been referred to a committee consisting of Messrs. Langdon, King, Johnson, Livingston, Clymer, Dickinson, L. Martin, Madison, Williamson, C. C. Pinckney, and Baldwin, the committee reported in favor of the clause, with an amendment making it read: “The migration or importation of such persons as the several States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Legislature prior to the year 1800, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such migration or importation at a rate not exceeding the average of the duties laid on imports.”[9]
Gen. Pinckney moved to strike out the words “the year 1800 and to insert the words eighteen hundred and eight.”
Mr. Gorham, of Massachusetts, seconded the motion. This action brought from one, who up to that time does not appear to have participated in the discussion, Mr. Madison, the declaration that: “twenty years will produce all the mischief that can be apprehended from the liberty to import slaves. So long a term will be more dishonorable to the national character than to say nothing about it in the Constitution.”[10]
The reported clause had been referred to the committee against the vote of New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Virginia and New Jersey both opposed the amendment; but as it received the vote of both New Hampshire and Massachusetts, which had not voted for the commitment, it was supported by seven out of the eleven States, the three New England States present and four of the five Southern States, the three Middle States present, and one Southern State, opposing.
While reasonable men must always be alive to the necessity of compromise, and while also the great responsibilities of the situation concerning this matter are apparent, yet this most important discussion and vote establishes some facts, with regard to the constitutional Union, which the honest historian cannot disregard.
First: The migration or importation of Negroes was prohibited in spite of the declaration of the representatives of the three Southern States, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, that some of the Southern States could not accept the Constitution if it did.
Second: A tax upon the importation was imposed through the aid of the vote of New England, whose representatives had warned the Convention that it would be a recognition of slavery to tax importation. The claim, therefore made, that South Carolina and Georgia forced the recognition of the slave trade is not borne out by the facts in the case. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia followed the suggestion of Gouverneur Morris of Pennsylvania, and, abandoning the principles for which they had contended, “formed a bargain” by which the slave trade was surrendered for the recognition of slavery by the Constitution.
Upon considering the discussion, although Ellsworth’s shrewd criticism crippled, to some extent, the lofty flight of Mason of Virginia, yet the speech of the latter puts him upon a higher plane of statesmanship than that occupied by any deputy present. On the other hand, no matter how high their reputations otherwise may have been established, none descended to so low a plane as King, of Massachusetts and Rutledge of South Carolina; while no individual exhibited as much ignorance of the existing situation as he, who by the temperance of his utterance and the influence of his high personal character, most thoroughly mastered it.
Gen. C. C. Pinckney did not seem to know that South Carolina had not been permitted by Great Britain to throw off the slave trade, when, as a province, she sought to do so,[11] or that the sentiment of the people of his State, even while he was speaking, had found expression in an Act which prohibited the bringing into the State of “any Negro slave contrary to the Act to regulate the recovery of debts and prohibiting the importation of Negroes”[12] and which was sufficiently strong even after the above compromise to negative, by a vote of 93 to 40, Gillon’s attempt in the South Carolina Legislature in 1788, to repeal the law prohibiting importation.[13] No severer criticism of the General’s statesmanship on this point was ever promulgated than that, thirty-four years later, which his devoted brother, Gen. Thomas Pinckney, furnished, in some reflections, published by him[14] without any thought of how positively they ran counter to the dictum of his brother—“South Carolina and Georgia cannot do without slaves”—he warned South Carolinians that Negro artisans were taking the places of whites.
But, turning from this discussion, it is of importance to consider just how the Negro population of the United States was located at the time of the adoption of the Constitution.
By the census taken in 1790 it was indicated that about six-sevenths of the entire colored population of the thirteen States constituting the Union, inhabited the four States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, of which about one-half were found in Virginia, the population in the order of their numbers being as follows: Virginia 305,493; Maryland 111,099; South Carolina, 108,895; North Carolina, 105,547. The Negro population of Georgia at that date was but slightly in excess of the Negro population of New York, being only 29,662 to New York’s 25,978, while in the region north of Maryland there were nearly three times as many Negroes as in the region south of South Carolina.
Considering the percentage of blacks to whites in the different sections, South Carolina had the greatest, with a colored population rising as high as 44 per cent of the total. Virginia came second, with a percentage of 41, Georgia was third, with 36; Maryland fourth, with 35; North Carolina fifth, with 27; Delaware sixth, with 26; New Jersey seventh, with 9; New York eighth, with 8; Rhode Island ninth, with 7, and Pennsylvania tenth, with less than three per cent.
There is still another standpoint, however, from which this population might be considered; that is with regard to the area of the State containing the same, and considered in this light, Maryland, with a Negro population in excess of that of South Carolina, and with an area of only one-third, was the most distinct Negro State of the Union. Delaware came second, and Virginia third. In the two States of Maryland and Virginia, with a combined area of 79,124 square miles, there was considerably more than one-half of the colored population of the United States, 416,572. In the region to the south, embracing the three States of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, with an area of 143,040 square miles, there were as yet but 244,104 Negroes, or about one-third of the number, considered with regard to the area they inhabited, which makes very obvious the contention of Ellsworth that the abrogation of the slave trade would have operated as a distinct commercial benefit to Maryland and Virginia, enabling them to supply to the region south of them, at enhanced prices, the slaves they might raise for market.
Virginia, Maryland and Delaware then constituted at this time the black belt, containing, as they did, four-sevenths of the colored population of the Union, three-fourths of the remainder being in the region below and one-fourth above.
In the first decade of the Constitution the density of this colored population in Virginia and Maryland was actually increased; while, at the same time, through an extraordinary accession to her white population, in spite of great gains to the colored, South Carolina’s colored percentage decreased, and it is on this account that what happened in the next decade of the Constitution in South Carolina is of so much importance. A consideration of these events will show, that, in spite of the declaration of her great deputies, that “South Carolina could not do without slaves,” and that her people “would never be such fools as to give up so important an interest” as “their right to import slaves,” they not only proposed to give up the right, but strove earnestly to do so, and only after thirty years of unavailing effort, accompanied by an ever increasing investment in that class of property, did the strong minority, which had opposed it, acquiesce in Calhoun’s most unwise view, that the blacks furnished “the best substratum of population, upon which great and flourishing Commonwealths may be most easily and safely reared.”[15]
Once it was accepted, the march was steadily on to disaster.