lly is this the case in reference
to the now all-absorbing question of negro slavery.

What was the state of this institution at the adoption of the
Constitution, and how did the Constitution deal with it?

The first introduction of African slaves into the American colonies was
in 1620. The total number imported by means of the African slave trade
between 1715 and 1790, was about 300,000. When the Constitution was
ratified in 1790, the total number of slaves in all the States and
territories was near 700,000. All the States ratifying the Constitution,
except Massachusetts, held slaves; Virginia the largest number--over
293,000; New Hampshire the smallest number--158. Even the granite hills
of New Hampshire were not then free from the feet of bondmen.

Our fathers were not responsible for the existence of slavery in their
midst. As already stated, the introduction of slaves had commenced in
1620, 156 years before the declaration of independence, and the
institution had under the patronage of the British government,
insidiously grown up and strengthened itself, especially in the Southern
States, which were adapted to negro labor. There it had interwoven
itself with the entire fabric of the social and domestic relations, and
could not be suddenly or rashly severed without involving greater evils
than its own existence.

It is undoubtedly true that a large number of the framers of the
Constitution were themselves slaveholders, among them George Washington
himself. With these men domestic slavery, though it might have been
regarded as an evil, was certainly not looked upon as a mortal sin, nor
were they, whatever might have been their theoretical opinions,
practical believers in the doctrine of universal equality of rights or
universal suffrage.

Here then, coeval with the organization of the Federal government, was
the domestic institution of slavery, existing in all the States but one,
and embracing over one sixth of their entire population. There were two
very plain methods by which it might have been dealt with. One was by an
express declaration of the Constitution, affirming as the Republican
sectional party affirm, that slavery is a relic of barbarism, and
therefore slavery shall be abolished in all the States and territories
of the American Union. Another method was to have declared in the
Constitution, as ultra men of the South now declare, that slavery is a
benign institution, deserving of protection, encourage