nd to defend
another part, and that other part be at liberty not only to
increase its own danger, but to withhold the compensation for the
burden? If slaves are to be imported shall not the exports
produced by their labor, supply a revenue the better to enable
the Genl. Govt. to defend their masters?--There was so much
inequality & unreasonableness in all this, that the people of the
N(orthern) States could never be reconciled (to it). No candid
man could undertake to justify it to them. He had hoped that some
accommodation wd. have taken place on this subject; that at least
a time wd. have been limited for the importation of slaves. He
never could agree to let them be imported without limitation &
then be represented in the Natl. Legislature. Indeed he could so
little persuade himself of the rectitude of such a practice, that
he was not sure he could assent to it under any circumstances. At
all events, either slaves should not be represented, or exports
should be taxable.

Mr. Sherman regarded the slave-trade as iniquitous; but the point
of representation having been settled after much difficuty &
deliberation, he did not think himself bound to make opposition;
especially as the present articles as amended did not preclude
any arrangement whatever on that point in another place of the
Report.

Mr. Govr. Morris moved to insert "free" before the word
"inhabitants." Much he said would depend on this point. He never
would concur in upholding domestic slavery. It was a nefarious
institution--It was the curse of heaven on the States where it
prevailed. Compare the free regions of the Middle States, where a
rich & noble cultivation marks the prosperity & happiness of the
people, with the misery & poverty which overspread the barren
wastes of Va. Maryd & the other States having slaves. (Travel
thro' ye whold Continent & you behold the prospect continually
varying with the appearance and disappearance of slavery. The
moment you leave ye E Sts. & enter N. York, the effects of the
institution become visible; Passing thro' the Jerseys and
entering Pa--every criterion of superior improvement witnesses
the change. Proceed Southwdly, & every step you take thro' ye
great regions of slaves, presents a desert increasing with ye
increasing proporti