This selection from the debate of the State Legislature of South Carolina touches upon the major issues that every Southern state took with the document. It also refers in passing to the objection of the Northern states to the practice of chattel slavery. The compromise decided upon was that each male slave would be counted as 3/5 of a person toward matters of assigning Congressional Representatives and an equal number of Senators for every state regardless of population thus giving the Southern States the numbers necessary to foil any Northern attack on its institution and an end to the importation of slaves after 20 years (also referred to here). The North, on the other hand, was jealous that it would always have enough votes under the new Constitutional system, to prevent federal tariffs or duties upon its commerce and shipping trade.
The unabashed defense, below, of slavery as the most essential “property” of the South is instructive. Throughout the South it was taken for granted as a simple and essential fact of life. A biblical precept is even cited. No Constitution — no matter how catastrophically insufficient the Articles of Confederation had proven to be — was acceptable to the Southern States that required, or promised in any future, the end of the system of chattel slavery that allowed agriculture to be highly profitable.
A Constitution that seriously hindered or promised to bring an end to chattel slavery would be resoundingly voted down. A Constitution that might give the South enough representatives to impose duties on shipping would be resoundingly voted down.
MR. LOWNDES : …the interest of the Northern states would so predominate, as to divest us of any pretensions to the title of a republic. In the first place, what cause was there for jealousy of our importing negroes? Why confine us to 20 years, or rather why limit us at all? For his part he thought this trade could be justified on the principles of religion, humanity and justice; for certainly to translate a set of human beings from a bad country to a better, was fulfilling every part of these principles. But they don’t like our slaves, because they have none themselves, and therefore want to exclude us from this great advantage; why should the southern states allow of this without the consent of nine states?
JUDGE PENDLETON observed, that only three states, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, allowed the importation of negroes, Virginia had a clause in her constitution for this purpose, and Maryland, he believed, even before the war, prohibited them.
MR. LOWNDES observed, that we had a law prohibiting the importation of negroes for three years, a law he greatly approved of, but there was no reason offered why the southern states might not find it necessary to alter their conduct, and open their ports. — Without negroes this state would degenerate into one of the most contemptible in the union, and cited an expression that fell from general Pinkney, on a former debate, that whilst there remained one acre of swamp land in South Carolina, he should raise his voice against restricting the importation of negroes. Even in granting the importation for 20 years, care had been taken to make us pay for this indulgence, each negro being liable on importation to pay a duty not exceeding ten dollars, and in addition to this were liable to a capitation tax. Negroes were our wealth, our only natural resource, yet behold how our kind friends in the North were determined soon to tie up our hands, and drain us of what we had. — The Eastern states drew their means of subsistence in a great measure from their shipping, and on that head they had been particularly careful not to allow of any burthens — they were not to pay tonnage or duties, no not even the form of clearing out — all ports were free and open to them! Why then call this a reciprocal bargain, which took all from one party to bestow it on the other?
MAJOR BUTLER observed, that they were to pay five percent impost.
This MR. LOWNDES proved must fall upon the upon the consumer.... A great number of gentlemen were captivated with this new constitution, because those who were in debt would be compelled to pay; other pleased themselves with the reflection that no more confiscation laws could be passed; but those were small advantages in proportion to evils that might be apprehended from the laws that might be passed by Congress, whenever there was a majority of representatives from the Eastern states, who were governed by prejudices and ideas extremely different from ours. He was afraid, in the present instance, that so much partiality prevailed for this new Constitution, that opposition from him would be fruitless: however, he felt so much the importance of the subject, that he hoped the house would indulge him in a few words, to take a view, comparatively, of the old constitution and the new one, in point of modesty. Congress, laboring under many difficulties, asked to regulate commerce for twenty-one years, when the power reverted into the hands of those who originally gave it; but this infallible new Constitution eased us of any more trouble, for it was to regulate commerce ad infinitum; and thus called upon us to pledge ourselves and posterity, forever, in support of their measures; so when our local legislature had dwindled down to the confined powers of a corporation, we should he liable to taxes and excise;…
Hon. E. RUTLEDGE was astonished to hear the honorable gentleman pass such eulogium on the old Confederation, and prefer it, as he had done, to the one before the house. For his part, he thought that Confederation so very weak, so very inadequate to the purposes of the Union, that, unless it was materially altered, the sun of American independence would indeed soon set — never to rise again. What could be effected for America under that highly-extolled constitution? Could it obtain security for our commerce in any part of the world? Could it force obedience to any one law of the Union? Could it obtain one shilling of money for the discharge of the most honorable obligations? The honorable gentleman knew it could not. Was there a single power in Europe that would lend us a guinea on the faith of that Confederation? or could we borrow one on the public faith of our own citizens? The people of America had seen these things ; they had felt the consequences of this feeble government, if that deserved the name of government which had no power to enforce laws founded on solemn compact; and it was under the influence of those feelings that with almost one voice, they had called for a different government.
[1] The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of..., (1888). Jonathan Elliot, ed. IV, 272-5.
Also from the Library of Babel:
Pierce Butler, Fanny Kemble, et al. July 22, 2020. ‘“An attempt of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to make a way around the original Fugitive Slave Law, of 1793, by finding a private agent guilty of kidnapping for having remanded a slave from Pennsylvania to Maryland was forcefully overturned by the U. S. Supreme Court in Prigg v. United States (1842).”’
The Best Translation of Dante’s Divina Commedia. July, 14, 2019. “For the next month, then, I put aside a few hours each night. Not only with Singleton and Merwin. In the glorious Age of the Internet, the first step could only be a search for what books relating to the subject were available on Google Book Search and the Internet Archive.”
A Memoriam for W. S. Merwin. April 17, 2019. “It took about three days, as I recall, for me to surrender to the fact that W. S. Merwin was the finest English language poet of his time. I wished I’d been prepared to read him years ago.”
Be sure to check out the Browser's Guide to the Library of Babel.
Also from Virtual Grub Street:
The Fascinating Itinerary of the Gelosi Troupe, 1576. June 10, 2019. “The Spanish soldiers had not been paid and unpaid soldiers tend to rob and loot. The citizens were prepared to give them a fight. Violent flare ups were occurring everywhere.”
A Thousand Years of English Terms. June 2, 2019. ‘One person did not say to another, “Meet you at three o’clock”. There was no clock to be o’. But the church bell rang the hour of Nones and you arranged to meet “upon the Nones bell”.’
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