o countenance the
restoration of liberty to those unhappy men, who alone, in
this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage,
and who, amidst the general joy of surrounding freemen, are
groaning in servile subjection; that you will devise means
for removing this inconsistency from the character of the
American people; that you will promote mercy and justice
towards this distressed race; and that you will step to the
very verge of the power vested in you for discouraging every
species of traffic in the persons of our fellow-men.

"BENJ. FRANKLIN, _President_.

"PHILADELPHIA, February 3, 1790."

The session of Congress held in 1790 was stormy. The slavery question
came back to haunt the members. On the 12th of February, the memorial
from the Pennsylvania society was read. It provoked fresh discussion,
and greatly angered many of the Southern members. As soon as its
reading was completed, the "Quaker Memorial," that had been read the
day previous, was called up; and Mr. Hartley moved its commitment. A
long and spirited debate ensued. It was charged that the memorial was
"a mischievous attempt, an improper interference, at the best, an act
of imprudence;" and that it "would sound an alarm and blow the trumpet
of sedition through the Southern States." Mr. Scott of Pennsylvania
replied by saying, "I cannot entertain a doubt that the memorial is
strictly agreeable to the Constitution. It respects a part of the duty
particularly assigned to us by that instrument." Mr. Sherman was in
favor of the commitment of the memorial, and gave his reasons _in
extenso_. Mr. Smith of South Carolina said, "Notwithstanding all the
calmness with which some gentlemen have viewed the subject, they will
find that the mere discussion of it will create alarm. We have been
told that, if so, we should have avoided discussion by saying nothing.
But it was not for that purpose we were sent here. We look upon this
measure as an attack upon property; it is, therefore, our duty to
oppose it by every means in our power. When we entered into a
political connection with the other States, this property was there.
It had been acquired under a former government conformably to the laws
and constitution, and every attempt to deprive us of it must be in the
nature of an _ex post facto_ law, and, as such, forbidden by our
political compact." Following the unwise and undignif