to countenance the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men, who alone, in this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who, amidst the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjection; that you will devise means for removing this inconsistency from the character of the American people; that you will promote mercy and justice towards this distressed race; and that you will step to the very verge of the power vested in you for discouraging every species of traffic in the persons of our fellow-men.

“BENJ.  FRANKLIN, President.

     “PHILADELPHIA, February 3, 1790.”

The session of Congress held in 1790 was stormy.  The slavery question came back to haunt the members.  On the 12th of February, the memorial from the Pennsylvania society was read.  It provoked fresh discussion, and greatly angered many of the Southern members.  As soon as its reading was completed, the “Quaker Memorial,” that had been read the day previous, was called up; and Mr. Hartley moved its commitment.  A long and spirited debate ensued.  It was charged that the memorial was “a mischievous attempt, an improper interference, at the best, an act of imprudence;” and that it “would sound an alarm and blow the trumpet of sedition through the Southern States.”  Mr. Scott of Pennsylvania replied by saying, “I cannot entertain a doubt that the memorial is strictly agreeable to the Constitution.  It respects a part of the duty particularly assigned to us by that instrument.”  Mr. Sherman was in favor of the commitment of the memorial, and gave his reasons in extenso.  Mr. Smith of South Carolina said, “Notwithstanding all the calmness with which some gentlemen have viewed the subject, they will find that the mere discussion of it will create alarm.  We have been told that, if so, we should have avoided discussion by saying nothing.  But it was not for that purpose we were sent here.  We look upon this measure as an attack upon property; it is, therefore, our duty to oppose it by every means in our power.  When we entered into a political connection with the other States, this property was there.  It had been acquired under a former government conformably to the laws and constitution, and every attempt to deprive us of it must be in the nature of an ex post facto law, and, as such, forbidden by our political compact.”  Following the unwise and undignified example set by the gentlemen who had preceded him on that side of the question, he slurred the Quakers.  “His constituents wanted no lessons in religion and morality, and least of all from such teachers.”

Madison, Gerry, Boudinot, and Page favored commitment.  Upon the question to commit, the yeas and nays being demanded, the reference was made by a vote of forty-three to eleven.  Of the latter, six were from Georgia and South Carolina, two from Virginia, two from Maryland, and one from New York.  A special committee was announced, to whom the memorial was referred, consisting of one member from each of the following States:  New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.  At the end of a month, the committee made the following report to Congress:—­