372 THE CONSTITUTION. 



servants in the houses of the rich. They could 

 therefore he easily dispensed with ; and it was pro- 

 posed by the Northern delegates, when the Constitution 

 was being prepared, that the African 'slave trade 

 should at once be abolished, and that certain measures 

 should be taken, with a view to the gradual emanci- 

 pation of the negro. Upon this question Virginia 

 appears to have been divided. But Georgia and the 

 Carolinas at once declared that they would not have 

 the slave-trade abolished : they wanted more slaves ; 

 and unless this species of property were guaranteed, 

 they would not enter the Union at all. They de- 

 manded that slavery should be recognised and pro- 

 tected by the Constitution. The Northerners at once 

 gave in ; they only requested that the words slave 

 and slavery might not appear. To this the Southerners 

 agreed, and the contract was delicately worded ; but 

 it was none the less stringent all the same. It was 

 made a clause of the Constitution that the slave trade 

 should not be suppressed before the year 1808. It 

 might then be made the subject of debate and legis- 

 lation — not before. It was made a clause of the 

 Constitution, that if the slaves of any state rebelled, 

 the national troops should be employed against them. 

 It was made a clause of the Constitution, that if a 

 slave escaped to a free state, the authorities of that 

 state should be obliged to give him up. And lastly, 

 slave-owners were allowed to have votes in proportion 

 to the number of their slaves. Such was the price 

 which the Northerners paid for nationality — a price 

 which their descendants found a hard and heavy one 

 to pay. The Fathers of the country ate sour grapes, 

 and the children's teeth were set on edge. 



But the Southerners had not finished yet. The 



