"But these prophetic words of George Mason," adds Mr. Fiske, "were powerless against the combination of New England and the far South."[[35]]
Some seven decades later, Virginia erected under the shadow of her Capitol a bronze statue to commemorate the fame of this illustrious son.
Governor Randolph and Mr. Madison earnestly supported their colleague, the former declaring that this feature rendered the constitution so odious as to make doubtful his ability to support it; and the latter asserting, "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 American character than to say nothing about it in the constitution."[[36]]
FOREIGN SLAVE TRADE LEGALIZED
Thus it was by the votes of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, and against the votes of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia, that the slave trade was legalized by the National Government for the period from 1787 to 1808.
DISASTERS RESULTING THEREFROM
If it be argued that this provision of the constitution offered no menace to Virginia or to any other state not willing to admit the importations, the reply is obvious that this action of the National Government was deplorable because it placed the imprimatur of its supreme law upon the morality as well as legality of the slave trade; and further, because with the advent from abroad of every additional slave the difficulties and dangers of emancipating those in the South—their natural habitat—was increased. New England and the North were not menaced. Climatic and economic conditions, as well as their local laws, raised a protecting barrier. Beneath the hot skies of the South—where flourished the much sought for crops of cotton, rice and sugar cane—was the land to which with unerring instinct the Trader piloted his craft freighted with ignorance and woe. As long, therefore, as one port remained open and the National Government sanctioned the traffic, just so long would the inflowing tide continue, each new arrival adding to the difficulties of the situation.
Thus the nation, under its new charter, entered upon its career handicapped by the curse of slavery and further menaced by the new lease of life accorded the slave trade. Upon Virginia the maximum of burden rested. She had within her borders nearly one-third of the whole slave population of the Union. Hers was the ceaseless task of guarding against further importations from home or abroad; of devising some practicable plan for gradually emancipating the slaves in her midst, and meanwhile to continue day by day the work of teaching these children of the Dark Continent an intelligible language, the use of tools, the necessity for labor and the rudiments of morality and religion.
| [33] | Critical Period of American History, Fiske, p. 264. |