WHAT SUFFRAGE MEANS. 9 occasions, boot-blacks, sellers of cakes and ale, on a small scale; often wandering fiddlers, though sometimes, certainly, they followed more steady callings. They were, in some sense, the gypsies of the New World. They were, in fact, what they must ever be by the side of the white race, and when not engaged as a body in some regular occupation for which they are especially suited, the outcasts of society. Yet they were tolerated without prejudice, and, in general, both pitied and petted by their superiors. For example, until the question between the white man and the negro assumed bearings of novel importance, at a much later date, the children of the latter attended the ordinary public schools, without thought of objection on the part of any one. Afterwards it became a point of serious difference. Indeed, a bright negro lad was then always a special favorite among his white school-mates. The relative condition of both was considered so settled that there could be no question on the subject; and there was little room for prejudice, until assumptions were made for the one from which the nature and reason of the other revolted. Such was the domestic experience of the North in regard to an inferior race, which had avowedly been brought into the country from their own barbarous home, for the sake of the use to which they could be put by their superiors. It was certainly never imagined by the latter, at the period just referred to, that the time could ever come, when their descendants would contemplate the project of instituting a civil equality between the separate races, at the expense of all reason and experience, and in opposition to the plainlywritten ordinances of Nature itself. Yet such is, or ought to be, the aim and the result of abolition. The plan now proposed in certain influential quarters is, to confer the right of suffrage upon liberated negroes, lately slaves. Suffrage is the symbol and the instrument of selfgovernment in a commonwealth. Self-government presupposes the most perfect possible exercise of the intellectual and moral powers. The possibility of such intelligent and conscientious action must depend upon capacity, knowledge, and association; that is, the inspiration of the past, the present, and the future. If the distinction of color were the only one between the white man and the black, some of the objections in the way of this notable project might be got over. But the color, resulting from positive constitutional differences, is only the sign of those distinctions which are themselves radical and immutable. Indicated also by form, features, and manners, they consist of that diversity of aptitudes, habits, and capacities, which have placed the white man at the top of the scale of human existence, and the black man at the bottom. The one has impressed the image of his being upon the ages. He has a history constituting the fortunes of the world. The other, except in connection with his brethren of Caucasian origin, has none whatever. That the inferior being, in his low estate, is susceptible of improvement, is indisputable; and every thing about him which may serve to that end ought to be fostered. But, to take this man and brother by the hand, in order to lift him to a level which he is not by his proper vigor qualified to reach or to hold, can but prove a mere violent conflict with insuperable obstacles, in which the contestants must suffer much harm, and the object of their solicitude perish, without the chance of gaining any useful end. The relation between master and slave had practically continued in every one of the American provinces, until the close of the Revolution in 1783. Immediately after that event, it was decided by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts that slavery had been, in fact, abolished in that State by the operation of its State Constitution, adopted in the year 1780. In all of the other original thirteen provinces north of Mason and Dixon's line, except Delaware (namely, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and New York), legislative measures were taken, shortly after the Revolution, for either the immediate or gradual extinction of slavery. To these was added Vermont, upon its admission to the Union in 1791. The sum total of the slaves in JEFFERSON ON NORTHERN SLAVE-TRADERS. 11 all these Northern States in 1790, was 49,240. Of these only 3,886 were to be found in New England, then consisting of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island; but inclusive of the territory of Maine and Vermont, before the admission of those States to the Union. The rest of the slaves in the States, amounting to 648,657, were distributed between Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, except 8,887 in Delaware. It is manifest, therefore, where the direct interest in preserving slavery would be most felt at that period. It is well worthy of note here, however, that notwithstanding the emancipation measures of the Northern legislative bodies, as it respected the States they then represented, no objection appears to have been taken, on the score of slavery, to the Constitution of the United States, when proposed to the Conventions of their several States. While on the one hand it is clear that the subject itself was fully on their minds, attested by their correspondent action, so far as they saw fit to deal with the matter, it is equally evident that they did not deem themselves authorized to meddle with it outside of their several State jurisdictions. Mr. Jefferson, indeed, gave a reason for this reticence, imputing it to the indirect interest of the Northern maritime States, in the transportation of African slaves to the Southern States. In his original draft of the Declaration of Independence he had inserted an article unqualifiedly reprobating the foreign slave trade, and urging the protection afforded to it by the King as one powerful motive in justification of the rebellion. He finally withdrew this clause from the document, and his reason, recorded by himself, appears in explanation of his conduct. After alluding to the disposition of some of the Southern States to keep up the slave trade, he continues: "Our Northern brethren, also, I believe, felt a little tender under those censures, for though their people have very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others." " 1 Jefferson's Works, I., p. 15. conscientious action must depend upon capacity, knowledge, and association; that is, the inspiration of the past, the present, and the future. If the distinction of color were the only one between the white man and the black, some of the objections in the way of this notable project might be got over. But the color, resulting from positive constitutional differences, is only the sign of those distinctions which are themselves radical and immutable. Indicated also by form, features, and manners, they consist of that diversity of aptitudes, habits, and capacities, which have placed the white man at the top of the scale of human existence, and the black man at the bottom. The one has impressed the image of his being upon the ages. He has a history constituting the fortunes of the world. The other, except in connection with his brethren of Caucasian origin, has none whatever. That the inferior being, in his low estate, is susceptible of improvement, is indisputable; and every thing about him which may serve to that end ought to be fostered. But, to take this man and brother by the hand, in order to lift him to a level which he is not by his proper vigor qualified to reach or to hold, can but prove a mere violent conflict with insuperable obstacles, in which the contestants must suffer much harm, and the object of their solicitude perish, without the chance of gaining any useful end. The relation between master and slave had practically continued in every one of the American provinces, until the close of the Revolution in 1788. Immediately after that event, it was decided by the Supreme Court of Massachusetts that slavery had been, in fact, abolished in that State by the eration of its State Constitution, adopted in the year 1780. all of the other original thirteen provinces north of Mason Ton's line, except Delaware (namely, New Hampshire, 01, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and legislative measures were taken, shortly after the for either the immediate or gradual extinction To these was added Vermont, upon its admisUnion in 1791. The sum total of the slaves in JEFFERSON ON NORTHERN SLAVE-TRADERS. 11 all these Northern States in 1790, was 49,240. Of these only 3,886 were to be found in New England, then consisting of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island; but inclusive of the territory of Maine and Vermont, before the admission of those States to the Union. The rest of the slaves in the States, amounting to 648,657, were distributed between Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, except 8,887 in Delaware. It is manifest, therefore, where the direct interest in preserving slavery would be most felt at that period. It is well worthy of note here, however, that notwithstanding the emancipation measures of the Northern legislative bodies, as it respected the States they then represented, no objection appears to have been taken, on the score of slavery, to the Constitution of the United States, when proposed to the Conventions of their several States. While on the one hand it is clear that the subject itself was fully on their minds, attested by their correspondent action, so far as they saw fit to deal with the matter, it is equally evident that they did not deem themselves authorized to meddle with it outside of their several State jurisdictions. Mr. Jefferson, indeed, gave a reason for this reticence, imputing it to the indirect interest of the Northern maritime States, in the transportation of African slaves to the Southern States. In his original draft of the Declaration of Independence he had inserted an article unqualifiedly reprobating the foreign slave trade, and urging the protection afforded to it by the King as one powerful motive in justification of the rebellion. He finally withdrew this clause from the document, and his reason, recorded by himself, appears in explanation of his conduct. After alluding to the disposition of some of the Southern States to keep up the slave trade, he continues: "Our Northern brethren, also, I believe, felt a little tender under those censures, for though their people have very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others." 1 Jefferson's Works, I., p. 15. |