"I wish indeed that I had been born in a land where domestic and negro slavery is unknown—no, sir,—I misrepresent myself—I do not wish so. I shall never wish that I had been born out of Virginia—but I wish that Providence had spared my country this moral and political evil. It is supposed that our slave labor enables us to live in luxury and ease, without industry, without care. Sir, the evil of slavery is greater to the master than to the slave. He is interested in all their wants, all their distresses, bound to provide for them, to care for them, to labor for them, while they labor for him, and his labor is by no means the less severe of the two. The relation between master and slave imposes on the master a heavy and painful responsibility."[[128]]
James Madison, in 1831 wrote concerning slavery and the American Colonization Society:
"Many circumstances of the present moment seem to concur in brightening the prospects of the Society and cherishing the hope that the time will come when the dreadful calamity which has so long afflicted our country and filled so many with despair, will be gradually removed, and by means consistent with justice, peace, and general satisfaction; thus giving to our country the full enjoyment of the blessings of liberty, and to the world the full benefit of its great example."[[129]]
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[110]
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Life of R. H. Lee, Lee, Vol. I, p. 18.
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[111]
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The True Patrick Henry, Morgan, p. 246.
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[112]
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Life of Patrick Henry, William Wirt Henry, Vol. I, p. 114.
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[113]
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The Writings of Washington, Marshall, Vol. II, p.
159.
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[114]
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Madison Papers, Vol. II, p. 1391.
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[115]
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Letters and Times of the Tylers, Tyler, Vol. I, p. 154.
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