The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-07-21
For the National !

and countries.
looPYRIsHr SECURED ACCORDING TO LAw.l
For the National Era
THE SOUTHERN PLATFORM;
OR,
MANUAL OF SOUTHERN SENTIMENT ON TIL
SUBJECT OF SLAVERY.
Being Compilation from. the Writings o
Washington, jefferson, Madison, and others
tchose names are consecrdted an the affection
of the Southern Ptople-the Debates in III,
Federal and State Conventions which france
and ratified the Constitution of the United
States-those Whieh occurred ia the first Con
crosses which sat during the administration
of General Washington-dnd extracts from
the Debate IN the Virginia Legislature an
1882 NTH various letters, judicial decisions &c
BY DANIEL R. GooDLoE, OF NORTH CAROLINA.
ELLIoTTs DEBATES-VoL; III.
Debates in the South Carolina State Convention
called 10 rdtify the ConStitution-Continued
By this settlement we have secured an un.
limited importation of negroes for twenty years;
nor is it declared that the importation shall be
then stopped; it may be continued We have
a security that the General Government can
never emancipate them for no such authority
is granted and it is admitted on all hands that
the General Government has no powers but
what are expressly granted by the Constitu.
ton, and that all rights not expressed were re.
served by the several States. We have OBJ
tanned q right to recover our slaves in whatev-
err part of America they may take refuge; which
is right we had not before. In short, consid-
ering all circumstances, we have made the best
terms for the security of this species Of proper.
ty it was in our power to make. We would
have made better if we could but on tho whole
| do not think them bad.-Pages 355-357.
C. Pinckney. Those who are acquainted
with the Eastern States, the reason of their
original migration, and their pursuits, habits,
and principles, well know that they are essen.
TALLY different from those of the Middle and
Southern States; that they retain all those
opinions respecting religion and government
which first induced their ancestors to cross the
Atlantic; and that they are, perhaps, more
purely republican in habits and sentiment
than any other part of the Union The inhab-
itants of New York and the Eastern part of
New Jersey originally Dutch settlements, seem
to have altered less than might have been ex-
pected in the course of a century; indeed, the
greatest part of New York may still be con-
sidered as o Dutch settlement-the people in
the interior country generally using that Ian
guage in their families, and having very little
varied their ancient customs. Pennsylvania
and Delaware are nearly one-half inhabited by
Quakers, whose passive principles upon ques-
tions of Government, and rigid opinions in pri-
vate, render them extremely different from the
citizens either of the Eastern or Southern States
Maryland was originally Roman Catholic
colony, and great number of their inhabi-
tants, some Of them the most wealthy and cul-
tivated, are still of this persuasion it is unne-
cessary for me to state the striking difference
in sentiment and habit which must always ex-
ist between the Independents of the East, the
Calvinists and Quakers of the Middle States,
and the Roman Catholics of Maryland; but
striking as this is, it s not to be compared with
the difference that there is between the inhab-
itants of Northern and Southern States when
| say Southern, | mean Maryland and the
States to the southwark of her; here we may
truly observe that nature has drawn as strong
marks of distinction in the habits and manners
)f the people, as che has in her climates and
productions. The Southern citizen behods
with kind of surprise, the simple manners of
The East, and is too often induced to entertain
indeserved opinions of the apparent purity of
he Quaker; while they, in their turn, seem
at what they term the extravaganza
md dissipation of their Southern friends, and
eprObate, as an objectionable moral and po-
itical evil, the dominion they hold over part |
# the human race. The Inconvenience which |
90 frequently attend these differences in habits
md opinions among the citizens that compose
he Union, are not a little increased by the va
.iety of their State Governments for, as have
already observed, the Constitution or laws I'M
der which people live never fail to have a
powerful effect upon their manners. We know
that all the States have adhered in their forms
10 the republican principle, though they have
differed widely in their opinions of the mode
best calculated to preserve it.-Pp. 1856, 1887.
Extracts from Jeferson's Notes on Virginia
Boston Edition, 1892
Under the mild treatment our slaves expe-
rience, and their wholesome, though coarse
food this blot In our country increases as fast,
or faster than the whites. During the regal
Government we had at one time obtained q
law, which imposed such duty on the import
alton of slaves as amounted nearly to a pro-
hibtion, when one inconsiderate Assembly,
placed under popularity of circumstance, re-
pealed the law. This repeal met joyful sane
ton from the then sovereign, and no devices,
no expedients, which could ever after be at
tempted by subsequent Assembies-and they
seldom met without attempting them-could
succeed in getting the royal assent to o renewal
of the duty. In the very first session held under
the Republican Government the Assembly pass
ed law for the perpetual prohibition of the
importation of slaves This will, in some meas
ure, stop the increase of this great political and
moral evil, while the minds of our citizens may
be ripening for complete emancipation Of
human nature.-Pdge SO.
Many of the laws which were in force du-
ring the monarchy, being relative merely to
that form OF Government or intoxicating prin-
ciples inconsistent with republicanism, the first
Assembly which met after the establishment of
the Commonwealth, appointed committees
to revise the whole code-to reduce it into
proper form and volume, and report it to the
Assembly. This work has been executed by
three gentlemen, and reported, but probably
will not be taken up till restoration of peace
shall leave to the Legislature leisure to go
through such q work.
They proposed the following, among other
dltcrau0uS.
To emancipate all slaves born after passing
the act. The bill reported by the revisors does
not itself contain this proposition but an amend
ment containing it was prepared to be offered
to the Legislature whenever the bill should be
taken up; and further directing that they
should continue with their parents to q certain
age, then be brought up, at the public expense,
70 tiiage, arts or sciences, according to their
geniuses, till the females should be eighteen
and the males twenty.one years of age, when
they should be colonized to such place as the
circumstances Of the time should render most
proper, sending them out with arms nipple
ments Of household and of the handicraft arts,
seeds pairs of the useful domestic animals, 60,
to declare them free and independent people,
and extend TO them our alliance and protec.
tion till they have acquired strength; and to
send vessels at the same time In other marta n,