1369. COLONIZATION (Negro), Emancipation and.—
There is, I think, a way in
which [the removal of the slaves to another
country] can be done; that is by emancipating
the after-born, leaving them, on due
compensation, with their mothers, until their
services are worth their maintenance. and
then putting them to industrious occupations
until a proper age for deportation. This
was the result of my reflections on the subject
five and forty years ago, and I have
never yet been able to conceive any other
practicable plan. It was sketched in the
“Notes on Virginia”. The estimated value
of the new-born infant is so low (say twelve
dollars and fifty cents) that it would probably
be yielded by the owner gratis, and
would thus reduce the six hundred millions
of dollars, the first head of expense, to thirty-seven
millions and a half; leaving only the
expenses of nourishment while with the
mother, and of transportation.—
To Jared Sparks. Washington ed. vii, 333.
Ford ed., x, 291.
(M.
1824)
