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black history, African American, black heritage, black history month, egypt, pyramids, rosetta stone, frederick douglass, george washington carver, booker t. washington, slave ship, abolition, british slave trade, phillis wheatley |
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The Balance and Columbian Repository _______________________________________________________
From
the Vermont Journal. Mr. James Elliot, To His Constituents
(July 2nd, 1805) That part of the Constitution of the United States which allows to the people of the southern states, a representation in congress and in the election of the president, for their slaves (for it is not a representation of slaves) is the only part of that instrument which I consider as materially objectionable; and I shall not be deterred from an expression of my sentiments upon the subject, by the foolish outcry about an imaginary dissolution of the Union. I have often said, that I will not to see the subject again agitated, in the form of an amendment to the constitution. Every one knows it must be unavailing. But it may still be useful that the operation of that part of the constitution should be better understood by the people than it has been hitherto. Information can do no harm in a republican government: the more the people know, the greater the probability of preserving the constitution.
Whole No. of persons in the US in 1790 ----------- 3,893,635 Deduct slaves -------------- 694,280 3,199,355 Three fifths of the slaves -------------- 416,568 Whole No. represented ----------- 3,615,923 Giving 109 representatives and a fraction of 18,923. But by the loss of fractional parts of the ratio of representation in the apportionment to the several states the actual number was only 106. Of the 694,280 slaves, the states of Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, N. Carolina, S. Carolina and Georgia contained 645,023, three-fifths of which number is 387,012; which divided by 33,000, (and not calculated fractional loss, in the apportionment to the states which would not in this case amount to one member) gives as the slave agreeable to the first census, eleven members, and a fraction of 24,012. Whole number of persons in the US in 1800, exclusive of Tennessee, Ohio and the Territories: 5,140,208 SLAVES TOTAL Tennessee 13,584 105,602 Ohio 45,365 Indiana 135 5,641 Mississippi 3,489 8,850 17,208 165,458 165,458 5,305,666 In other states: Slaves, 875,225
Deduct in Deduct in Indiana Indiana and and Mississippi Mississippi: 3,624 unrepresented: 14,491 5,291,175 888,809 Deduct slaves: 888,809 4,402,366 Three-fifths of slaves: 533,280 4,935,646 Giving 149 representatives and a fraction of 18,646. But the loss of fractional parts etc. the number is only 142. By the second census, of 888,809 slaves the same states contain 832,992, three fifths of which is 499,794, giving 15 representatives and a fraction of 15 representatives and a fraction of 4,794. I shall divide the United States into three great natural divisions of northern, middle and southern states. The northern receive no advantage, the middle but a trifle if any, and the southern an important advantage, from the representation for slaves. The following table exhibits the decrease of slaves in the northern and middle, and their increase in the southern states, for ten years. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont contained in 1790 – Total 1,009,522; slaves 1,886. In 1800, Total 1,233,011; slaves 1,339. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, in 1790. Total 1,017,726; slaves 45,894. Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in 1790. Total 1,866,387; slaves 645,023. In 1800, Total 2,437, 231; slaves 832,992. The slaves in the northern states have decreased from 3,886 to 1,339 almost in the ratio of 2 in 3. In the middle states from 45,371 to 40,894, in that of nearly one ninth. Increased in the southern states from 645,023 to 832,992, nearly one third of the original number, or in the ratio of 832 to 645. Rhode Island has decreased form 948 to 380. Connecticut from 2,764 to 951. New York nearly stationary; Pennsylvania and Delaware have decreased a little, and Maryland made a small increase. Virginia has increased in the ratio of 345 to 292 – Kentucky in that of 40 to 12, North Carolina in that of 133 to 100. South Carolina in that of 146 to 107. Georgia has doubled her number. The increase gives four members of congress and as many electors of the president to the southern states. This increase of the whole number of person represented has been as 49 to 36; that of slaves for which their matters are represented, as 53 to 41; that of freemen as 44 to 31. Let us calculate upon the same ratio of increase for ten years to come. Increase the number of persons represented from 49 to 65 – slaves from 53 to 68 – freemen from 44 to 60, round numbers; there will be in ten years more than 19 representatives for slaves. But if we calculate as we may with probability, upon a much larger increase, upon the creation of new states in Louisiana and the importation and propagation of slaves in that country, in 20 or 30 years there will be between 30 and 40 representatives in congress for slaves and as many electors of president. But another very gloomy part of the picture remains to be unfolded. In the last ten years the whole number of persons in the northern or eastern states has increased only in the proportion of 12 to 10 in the middle as 14 to 10, in the southern nearly as 24 to 18. Free people in the southern states from 1,221,364 to 1,604,239. – Free people in the eastern states in the ratio of one fifth of the original number; those in the southern states in that of nearly one third; slaves in the same proportion. By the last census the number of free persons in the northern states was 1,231,672 and in the southern states was 1,604,239. By the former census the number of free persons in the northern states was 1,005,636, and in the southern states, 1,221,364. How are the people in these different quarters of the Union relatively represented? By the first census Vermont had 2 members, New Hampshire 4, Massachusetts 14, Rhode Island 2, North Carolina 10, South Carolina 6, Georgia 2 – 46 members. 1,005,636 free citizens in the northern states had 29 representatives, and 1.221,364 in the southern, 46 representatives. Without allowing any fractions of the ratio of representation in the apportionment to the several states, and making no allowances for slaves, the northern states would have been entitled, by the census of 1791 to 30 representatives and a fraction of 15,636, the southern to 37 only with the trifling fraction of 364. In consequence, therefore, of the constitutional representation for slaves, the relative weight of the northern and southern states was only as 29 to 46, when otherwise it would have been 30 to 37. By the present census the northern states have 35 representatives and the southern 64, including Tennessee. 1,231,672 free people in the northern states have 35 representatives. The southern states including Tennessee, contain 1,696,257 free people, and have 64 representatives. As above, the northern states would have been entitled by the census of 1800, to 37 members, with a fraction of 10,672 – The southern to 51 and a fraction of 10,672. It is as 35 to 64; and were freemen alone represented, and that equally, it would be as 37 to 51. Instead of being a little more than half, it would be more than two thirds. But it is contended that the equal representation in the senate counterbalances this inequality: and the deceivers of the people have met with some success in this falsehood. I will prove it false in one minute. The five northern states contain 1,231,672 free people, and send 10 senators; the 7 southern states 1,696,257, and send 14 senators. By the simple operation in the rule of three, it will be found that the southern states, by their numbers, in proportion to those of the northern, are entitled only to 13 senators, with a fraction of 91 parts of 123. The middle states stand almost on the same ground with the northern. As it respects the Senate they are on worse ground. With a free population but one eighth less than that of the southern states, they have but one more than half the number of Senators. Vermont, for 154,000 free people has 4 representatives. Massachusetts for 574,564 has 17 representatives, New Hampshire, for 183,850 has 5, Connecticut for 250,051 has 7, Rhode Island for 68,742 has 2. – New York for 565,437 has 17. New Jersey for 198,727 has 6. Pennsylvania for 600,839 has 18. Delaware for 58,120 has 1. Virginia the largest of the southern states, has in whole numbers 880,200, deduct slaves 345,796, free people 534,404. Virginia with 40,160 free less than Massachusetts, has five representatives and electors more. – With 31,033 less than New York, she has five more of each. With 66,435 less than Pennsylvania, she has four more of each. Persons now alive may see the day when the southern and western states will have more representatives in congress and electors of the president, for slaves only, than the northern will have for all their free people! Whoever shall deny the truth of any part of this statement, may rely upon it is a deceiver and dishonest. If there be no accidental or typographical mistakes in the figures, every word of it is our own misfortune, and not the crime of the people of the fourth. We must make the best of a bad bargain. We must by all means preserve the constitution. Our situation is indeed wretched, as we have no compensation for this monstrous sacrifice. That which was intended as a compensation (a very trifling one, however) the apportionment of direct taxes, has never been exercised but once, and probably never will be again. Still let us preserve the constitution. But it cannot be treason, conspiracy, or a division of the Union, to contemplate our misfortunes, and calculate their consequences. About the Author: Mr. James Elliot Mr. James Elliot was a Representative from Vermont; born in Gloucester, Mass., August 18, 1775; during his early years worked on a farm and clerked in a store; moved to Guilford, Vt., in 1790; served as a sergeant in the Indian war of 1793 in Ohio; published several works of poems and essays in 1798; clerk of the State house of representatives 1801-1803; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1803 and commenced practice in Brattleboro, Vt.; elected as a Federalist to the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Congresses (March 4, 1803-March 3, 1809); published a newspaper in Philadelphia, Pa., on his retirement from Congress; served in the War of 1812 for a short time as captain; resumed the practice of law in Brattleboro, Vt.; clerk of the Windham County Court 1817-1835; member of the State house of representatives in 1818 and 1819; moved to Newfane, Vt.; register of the probate court 1822-1834; again served in the State house of representatives in 1837 and 1838; State’s attorney of Windham County 1837-1839; died in Newfane, Vt., November 10, 1839; interment in Prospect Hill Cemetery, Brattleboro, Vt. -- (Note: In 1777, Vermont was the first colony to abolish slavery.) About the Editor: Harry Croswell In 1801 Harry Croswell moved to Hudson, New York, to join the retired Congregational minister, Ezra Sampson, and a bookseller, George Chittenden, in publication of an independent newspaper called The Balance and Columbian Repository. Croswell's forte on the paper was his acerbic -- one could even say venomous -- political commentary. Indeed, his intemperate columns in this paper and another, The Wasp (which he published briefly in 1802 to counter the pro-Democratic paper The Bee), foreshadowed the end of his journalistic career. Croswell printed such scurrilous attacks on Thomas Jefferson that Jefferson authorized his New York supporters to bring charges against Croswell as "a malicious and seditious man ... of a depraved mind and wicked and diabolical disposition," who had contrived to "scandalize, traduce and vilify" the President of the United States. Even Alexander Hamilton's eloquence on appeal could not overturn Croswell's guilty verdict, in a celebrated case that would establish limits to the freedom of the press. |
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