ia] are worth more than all the
wretched slaves who cover the rice swamps of South Carolina.... And
what is the proposed compensation to the Northern States for a
sacrifice of every principle of right, of every impulse of
humanity? They are to bind themselves to march their militia for
the defense of the Southern States, for their defense against those
very slaves of whom they complain. They must supply vessels and
seamen in case of foreign attack. The legislature will have
indefinite power to tax them by excises and duties on imports, both
of which will fall heavier on them than on the Southern
inhabitants; for the Bohea tea used by a Northern freeman will pay
more tax than the whole consumption of the miserable slave, which
consists of nothing more than his physical subsistence and the rags
that cover his nakedness.... Let it not be said that direct
taxation is to be proportioned to representation. It is idle to
suppose that the general government can stretch its hand directly
into the pockets of the people scattered over so vast a country....
He would sooner submit himself to a tax for paying for all the
negroes in the United States than saddle posterity with such a
Constitution."

So much of this as was not already fact was prophecy. Yet not many weeks
later this impassioned orator put his name to the Constitution, though
it had grown meanwhile into larger pro-slavery proportions. There was
undoubtedly some sympathy with him among a few of the members; but the
general feeling was more truly expressed a few days later by Rutledge of
South Carolina, in the debate on the continuance of the African slave
trade. "Religion and humanity," he said, "had nothing to do with this
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 carriers." The
response came from Connecticut, Oliver Ellsworth saying: "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,"--especially Newport and its adjacent coasts, he
might have added, with its trade to the Afric