If it be argued that this provision of the constitution offered no
menace to Virginia or to any other state not willing to admit the
importations, the reply is obvious that this action of the National
Government was deplorable because it placed the imprimatur of its
supreme law upon the morality as well as legality of the slave trade;
and further, because with the advent from abroad of every additional
slave the difficulties and dangers of emancipating those in the
South—their natural habitat—was increased. New England and the North
were not menaced. Climatic and economic conditions, as well as their
local laws, raised a protecting barrier. Beneath the hot skies of the
South—where flourished the much sought for crops of cotton, rice and
sugar cane—was the land to which with unerring instinct the Trader
piloted his craft freighted with ignorance and woe. As long,
therefore, as one port remained open and the National Government
sanctioned the traffic, just so long would the inflowing tide
continue, each new arrival adding to the difficulties of the
situation.
Thus the nation, under its new charter, entered upon its career
handicapped by the curse of slavery and further menaced by the new
lease of life accorded the slave trade. Upon Virginia the maximum of
burden rested. She had within her borders nearly one-third of the
whole slave population of the Union. Hers was the ceaseless task of
guarding against further importations from home or abroad; of devising
some practicable plan for gradually emancipating the slaves in her
midst, and meanwhile to continue day by day the work of teaching these
children of the Dark Continent an intelligible language, the use of
tools, the necessity for labor and the rudiments of morality and
religion.
-----
Footnote 33:
_Critical Period of American History_, Fiske, p. 264.
Footnote 34:
_History of Negro Race in America_, Williams, Vol. I, p. 426.
Footnote 35:
_Critical Period of American History_, Fiske, p. 264.
Footnote 36:
_Life and Times of Madison_, Rives, Vol. II, p. 446.