[36] Journals of Cong., 1781, June 25; July 18; Sept. 21, 27; Nov. 8, 13, 30; Dec. 4.
[37] Ibid., 1782–3, pp. 418–9, 425.
[38] Annals of Cong., 1 Cong. 2 sess. p. 1183.
[39] Cf. above, chapters ii., iii., iv.
Chapter VI
THE FEDERAL CONVENTION. 1787.
| 32. The First Proposition. |
| 33. The General Debate. |
| 34. The Special Committee and the "Bargain." |
| 35. The Appeal to the Convention. |
| 36. Settlement by the Convention. |
| 37. Reception of the Clause by the Nation. |
| 38. Attitude of the State Conventions. |
| 39. Acceptance of the Policy. |
32. The First Proposition. Slavery occupied no prominent place in the Convention called to remedy the glaring defects of the Confederation, for the obvious reason that few of the delegates thought it expedient to touch a delicate subject which, if let alone, bade fair to settle itself in a manner satisfactory to all. Consequently, neither slavery nor the slave-trade is specifically mentioned in the delegates' credentials of any of the States, nor in Randolph's, Pinckney's, or Hamilton's plans, nor in Paterson's propositions. Indeed, the debate from May 14 to June 19, when the Committee of the Whole reported, touched the subject only in the matter of the ratio of representation of slaves. With this same exception, the report of the Committee of the Whole contained no reference to slavery or the slave-trade, and the twenty-three resolutions of the Convention referred to the Committee of Detail, July 23 and 26, maintain the same silence.