Madison in stating his position on this question was a little more definite than some of his contemporaries.  Speaking of the necessary preparation of the colored people for emancipation he thought it was possible to determine the proper course of instruction.  He believed, however, that, since the Negroes were to continue in a state of bondage during the preparatory period and to be within the jurisdiction of commonwealths recognizing ample authority over them, “a competent discipline” could not be impracticable.  He said further that the “degree in which this discipline” would “enforce the needed labor and in which a voluntary industry” would “supply the defect of compulsory labor, were vital points on which it” might “not be safe to be very positive without some light from actual experiment."[1] Evidently he was of the opinion that the training of slaves to discharge later the duties of freemen was a difficult task but, if well planned and directed, could be made a success.

[Footnote 1:  Madison, Works of, vol. iii., p. 496.]

No one of the great statesmen of this time was more interested in the enlightenment of the Negro than Benjamin Franklin.[1] He was for a long time associated with the friends of the colored people and turned out from his press such fiery anti-slavery pamphlets as those of Lay and Sandiford.  Franklin also became one of the “Associates of Dr. Bray.”  Always interested in the colored schools of Philadelphia, the philosopher was, while in London, connected with the English “gentlemen concerned with the pious design,"[2] serving as chairman of the organization for the year 1760.  He was a firm supporter of Anthony Benezet,[3] and was made president of the Abolition Society of Philadelphia which in 1774 founded a successful colored school.[4] This school was so well planned and maintained that it continued about a hundred years.

[Footnote 1:  Smyth, Works of Benjamin Franklin, vol. v., p. 431.]

[Footnote 2:  Ibid., vol. iv., p. 23.]

[Footnote 3:  Smyth, Works of Benjamin Franklin, vol. v., p. 431.]

[Footnote 4:  Ibid., vol. x., p. 127; and Wickersham, History of Education in Pennsylvania, p. 253.]

John Jay kept up his interest in the Negro race.[1] In the Convention of 1787 he cooeperated with Gouverneur Morris, advocating the abolition of the slave trade and the rejection of the Federal ratio.  His efforts in behalf of the colored people were actuated by his early conviction that the national character of this country could be retrieved only by abolishing the iniquitous traffic in human souls and improving the Negroes.[2] Showing his pity for the downtrodden people of color around him, Jay helped to promote the cause of the abolitionists of New York who established and supported several colored schools in that city.  Such care was exercised in providing for the attendance, maintenance, and supervision of these schools that they soon took rank among the best in the United States.