the states, except Rhode-Island and Connecticut, formed
constitutions prior to 1789. Those two states went on, beyond this
period, under their old charters.[14]

The eleven constitutions formed, were all democratic in their general
character. The most of them eminently so. They generally recognized, in
some form or other, the natural rights of men, as one of the fundamental
principles of the government. Several of them asserted these rights in
the most emphatic and authoritative manner. Most or all of them had also
specific provisions incompatible with slavery. Not one of them had any
specific recognition of the existence of slavery. Not one of them
granted any specific authority for its continuance.

The only provisions or words in any of them, that could be claimed by
any body as recognitions of slavery, are the following, viz.

1. The use of the words "our negroes" in the preamble to the
constitution of Virginia.

2. The mention of "slaves" in the preamble to the constitution of
Pennsylvania.

3. The provisions, in some of the constitutions, for continuing in force
the laws that had previously been "in force" in the colonies, except
when altered by, or incompatible with the new constitution.

4. The use, in several of the constitutions, of the words "free" and
"freemen."

As each of these terms and clauses may be claimed by some persons as
recognitions of slavery, they are worthy of particular notice.

1. The preamble to the frame of government of the constitution of
Virginia speaks of negroes in this connexion, to wit: It charges George
the Third, among other things, with "prompting _our negroes_ to rise in
arms among us, those very negroes, whom, by an inhuman use of his
negative, he hath refused us permission to exclude by law."

Here is no assertion that these "negroes" were slaves; but only that
they were a class of people whom the Virginians did not wish to have in
the state, _in any capacity_--whom they wished "to exclude by law." The
language, considered as legal language, no more implies that they were
slaves, than the charge of having prompted "our women, children,
farmers, mechanics, or our people with red hair, or our people with blue
eyes, or our Dutchmen, or our Irishmen to rise in arms among us," would
have implied that those portions of the people of Virginia were slaves.
And especially when it is considered that slavery had had no prior
_legal_ existence, this reference to "negroes" author