Thomas Jefferson Quotes
After the year 1800 there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said states other than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty
In April, 1784, the Continental Congress passed a series of laws that Jefferson had drafted for the NorthWest territory—Ohio then being the west and the states that would develop there. However, the quotation is the clause that the Southern States blocked and hence did not become law, as the Soothers states cared little about the status of the area regarding slavery, but feared that the new states wold become a sanctuary for runaway slaves. It was another case where Jefferson attempted to end slavery. It also was yet another example of the unwieldiness of the Continental Congress to manage the new nation which led up to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Ironically, as a price for union, the Southern States demanded and obtained a disproportionate representation in the New House of Representatives by having 60 percent of their slaves counted inzallocating congressional seats. The senate also worked in their favor as there were enough Southern states to block any attack on slavery in the Senate. There was no democratic way to eliminate slavery and the Civil War resulted. However, Jefferson’s proposed law was passed by the last Continental Congress in June, 1787. The difference was that there was also added a proviso that required the return of all runaway slaves from the new territory and states which was lacking in the earlier attempt.
Thomas Jefferson Proposed Law for the Northwest Territories that was rejected by the Continental Congress April, 1784
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Lincoln had promised amnesty to Southerners who would pledge loyalty to the Union. What many feared was that this would include slave owners re-enslaving their former "property," or that the government would allow them to do so in order to stop the rebellion.
This quotation illustrates the strong abolitionist tendency in the Ohio Territory. Under this clause, escaped slaves from Southern states would not be returned by the state authorities. Even more insulting to the slave enthusiasts of the South, if a Southerner brought any slaves into Ohio with them as was common for Southerners traveling with their personal slaves or horse team drivers, those slaves would be free. An interesting aspect of this clause of the Ohio Constitution was that the beginning was, word for word, copied from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. See {618100}.
Many people are surprised that such an anti-slavery could have passed given the Southern states’ position regarding slavery. However, this resolution did not end slavery—just American participation in the slave trade. This would have actually increased the value of the existing slaves in the colonies as “cheap imports” would no longer depress the value of American slaves. The Southern perception was there were enough slaves for their needs and they could breed more. The other states, generally opposing slavery took what they could get---a ban on the slave trade. A major economic fact of the time was the vast majority of the slave trade imports were going to the British Colonies in the Caribbean. Cutting off the American slave trade would do much more harm to the economic interests of Britain than the United States where the only people economically hurt would be the Yankee captains and slave traders who were not very popular of politically connected except in Rhode Island.
This was Lincoln’s first anti—slavery speech and it was memorable
Baldwin was a young lawyer at the time. He represented a shipload of ex-slaves who had taken over their Spanish slave ship and landed in America. The Spanish claimed, the ship owners and some of the crew all claimed the “property.”
Southerners from the slave states wanted California to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. But a large majority of Californians saw that as a terrible alternative. It was argued that the Southern states would never vote to admit California if it were a free state (see {613404}) and in order to make it clear to the South that admission as a slave state was out of the question, this clause was passed at the Constitutional Convention.
This was one of the first opportunities that Congress had to legislate on the slavery issue. The Southerners were adamantly opposed to this article although by previous agreement the issue of slavery in the original 13 states could not be interfered with. Majority sentiment of the nation at the time was opposed to extending slavery into the territories. The second part of the quotation shows however, that the slavery in the Southern States would not be undermined by allowing fugitive slaves to escape into the territories, so there was a compromise of sorts that pushed the inevitable clash over slavery off. Compromise and struggle ensued for 70 years until it finally erupted as the Civil War.
It was in fact, the following year when the South rebelled to prevent a “settlement”, but the irony was that the Civil War brought the settlement—emancipation-- faster and on less favorable terms than had they not rebelled and let the political process end slavery gradually as the majority of the nation wanted and morality dictated.
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels.
