7943. SLAVERY, Extension of.—
Of one
thing I am certain, that as the passage of
slaves from one State to another, would not
make a slave of a single human being who
would not be so without it, so their diffusion
over a greater surface would make them individually
happier, and proportionally facilitate
the accomplishment of their emancipation,
by dividing the burden on a greater number
of coadjutors. An abstinence, too, from this
act of power would remove the jealousy excited
by the undertaking of Congress to regulate
the condition of the different descriptions
of men composing a State. This certainly is the
exclusive right of every State, which nothing
in the Constitution has taken from them and
given to the General Government. Could Congress,
for example, say that the non-freemen of
Connecticut shall be freemen, or that they shall
not emigrate into any other State?—
To John Holmes. Washington ed. vii, 159.
Ford ed., x, 158.
(M.
1820)
