GEORGE WASHINGTON.--"I never mean, unless some
particular circumstance should compel me to it, to possess
another slave by purchase: _it being among my first wishes to
see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may be
abolished by law_."--_Letter to John F. Mercer._
"There is not a man living, who wishes more sincerely than I
do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it (Slavery);
but there is only one proper and effectual mode by which it can
be accomplished, and that is, by the legislative authority;
and this, _as far as my suffrage will go, will not be
wanting_."--_Letter to Robert Morris._
JOHN ADAMS.--"Great is truth--great is liberty--great is
humanity; and they must and will prevail."
THOMAS JEFFERSON.--"The rightful _power_ of all legislation is
to declare and enforce _only_ our NATURAL RIGHTS AND DUTIES,
and _take none of them from us_. No man has a natural right
to _commit aggressions on the equal rights of another_, and
this is ALL from which the law ought to _restrain him_. Every
man is under a natural duty of contributing to the necessities
of society, and this is all the law should enforce upon him.
When the laws have declared and enforced all this, they have
fulfilled their functions."--"The idea is quite unfounded, that
on entering into society, _we give up any natural right_."
"The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual
exercise of the most boisterous passions; the most unremitting
despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the
other. * * And with what execration should the statesman be
loaded, who, permitting one-half the citizens thus to trample
on the rights of the others, transforms those into despots, and
these into enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, and
the love of country of the other. For, if a slave can have a
country in this world, it must be any other in preference to
that in which he is born to live and labor for another. * * And
can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have
removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the
people, that these liberties are the gift of God; that they are
not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my
country when I reflect that God is just; and that his justice
cannot sleep forever. * * When the measure of the slaves' tears
shall be full; when their tears shall have involved heaven
itself in darkness; doubtless a God of justice will awaken to
their distress, and by diffusing light and liberality among
their oppressors, or, at length by his exterminating thunder,
manifest his attention to things of the world, and that they
are not left to the guidance of blind fatality."--_Notes on
Virginia._
JAMES MADISON.--"It seemed now to be pretty well understood,
that the real difference of interests lay, not between the
large and small, but between the Northern and Southern States.
The institution of slavery, and its consequences, formed the
line of discrimination."--_Speech in the Convention for the
formation of the Federal Constitution._
JAMES MONROE.--"We have found that this evil (slavery)
has preyed upon the very vitals of the Union; and has
been prejudicial to all the States in which it has
existed."--_Speech in the Virginia Convention._
JOHN Q. ADAMS.--"Nay, I may go further, and insist that that
(the slave) representation has ever been, in fact, _the
ruling power of this government._ The history of the Union
has afforded a continual proof that this representation of
property, which they enjoy, has secured to the slaveholding
States the control of the national policy, and, almost without
exception, the possession of the highest executive office of
the Union."--_Speech in Congress, Feb. 4, 1833._
"Fellow citizens: The numbers of freemen constituting your
nation are much greater than those of the slaveholding States,
bond and free. You have at least three-fifths of the whole
population of the Union. Your influence on the legislation and
the administration of the government ought to be in proportion
of three to two. But how stands the fact? * * * By means of the
double representation, the minority command the whole, and a
_knot of slaveholders give the law and prescribe the policy of
the country_."--_Speech at North Bridgewater, Nov. 6, 1844._
JAMES K. POLK.--On the 12th of May, 1841, a resolution was
introduced in Congress, to the effect, "That the President of
the United States be requested to renew, and to prosecute,
from time to time, such negotiations with the several maritime
powers of Europe and America, as he may deem expedient _for
the effectual abolition of the African Slave Trade_, and its
ultimate denunciation as _piracy_ under the law of nations,
by the consent of the civilized world." The vote on this
resolution was 118 ayes and 32 nays; _James K. Polk voting
in the negative_. (Cong. Deb. vol. 7., p. 850). Mr. Polk,
since occupying the presidency, has pardoned two individuals,
convicted in the courts of having been engaged in this trade.