The infernal traffic
originated in the avarice of British merchants. The British government
constantly checked the attempts of Virginia to stop it. The integrity and
welfare of the whole Union is concerned in the matter. The evil of slavery was
experienced in the late Revolution. Had slaves been treated as they might have
been by the enemy (i.e., liberated and armed), they would have proved dangerous
instruments in their hands.
The prohibition of
the slave trade by individual States was of none avail so long as South
Carolina and Georgia were left free to bring Africans into the country. The new
Western territory would be filled with the wretched creatures.
Slavery discourages
the arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor, when they see it performed
by slaves. Negro slaves prevent the immigration of free white laborers, who
really enrich and strengthen a country.
Slavery debases
morals; every master is born a petty tyrant. It brings the judgment of
heaven on a country. As nations cannot be punished in the next world, they must
be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects Providence punishes
national sins by national calamities.
SOURCE: Marion Mills
Miller, American Debate: The Land And
Slavery Question, 1607-1860, p. 101-2
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