August 8, 1787:Slavery and Representation

Portrait of Gouverneur Morris by Ezra Ames, 1817

Avery Library, New York

"The admission of slaves into the representation, when fairly explained, comes to this, —that the inhabitant of Georgia and South Carolina who goes to the coast of Africa, and, in defiance of the most sacred laws of humanity, tears away his fellow creatures from their dearest connexions and damns them to the most cruel bondage, shall have more votes in a government instituted for protection of the rights of mankind, than the citizen of Pennsylvania or New Jersey, who views with a laudable horror so nefarious a practice."

--Gouverneur Morris

Wednesday, August 8, 1787: The Convention Today

Madison recorded that the day began when “Mr. MERCER (MD) expressed his dislike of the whole plan, and his opinion that it never could succeed.”

After another vote reaffirming, this time unanimously, that the federal government would not institute any new property requirements for voters, the Convention considered the qualifications of members of the House of Representatives. The current language said a representative:

• “shall be of the age of twenty-five years at least”
• “shall have been a citizen in the United States for at least three years before his election”
• “and shall be, at the time of his election, a resident of the State in which he shall be chosen”

Mason (VA) wanted to raise the citizenship requirement to seven years to avoid a situation where “foreigners and adventurers make laws for us and govern us.” Gouverneur Morris (PA) seconded, and the motion passed with the support of every state except Connecticut.

Sherman (CT) motioned, and Madison (VA) seconded, to change the qualification wording from “resident of the state” to “inhabitant of the state.” The states represented unanimously voted to change the wording to “inhabitant” from “resident.”

The amended language passed unanimously.

The Convention then considered how many representatives each state would get in the First Congress. Charles Pinckney (SC) and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (SC) moved to increase their state’s representation from five to six. (South Carolina’s delegates had already repeatedly tried in July to both increase southern representation and decrease northern representation.) The motion failed, 4–7, with Delaware, Georgia, and the Carolinas in support.

Next, King (MA) attacked language which granted states extra representation for their enslaved populations. He was infuriated that, according to the draft Constitution, Congress would be unable both to prohibit the slave trade and to tax the exported goods made by enslaved people. The purpose of the Constitution was to make America more secure. Importation of enslaved people made America less secure because it increased the risk of slave rebellions. If the Constitution passed as currently drafted, states which prohibited slavery would have to support the suppression of slave rebellions in the slave states, something which he found even more galling because of the extra representation slave states received for their non-citizen, enslaved populations.

Sherman (CT) agreed that the slave trade was “iniquitous” but saw no point in rehashing the earlier arguments over it.

Madison had a different objection: the draft required one representative for every forty thousand inhabitants, which would eventually make the House of Representatives prohibitively large. Gorham (MA) responded, “It is not to be supposed that the Government will last so long as to produce this effect. Can it be supposed that this vast country, including the western territory, will, one hundred and fifty years hence, remain one nation?”

Madison and Sherman moved for language that would allow more flexibility in how many representatives would be in the House. The motion passed unanimously.

Now G. Morris moved for representation to be based off the number of “free inhabitants,” saying slavery “was the curse of Heaven on the States where it prevailed.” He contrasted the happiness and prosperity of the free states with “the misery and poverty which overspread the barren wastes of Virginia, Maryland, and the other States having slaves.” He linked the wrongness of representation for the enslaved with the wrongness of slavery itself: “Upon what principle is it that the slaves shall be computed in the representation? Are they men? Then make them citizens, and let them vote. Are they property? Why, then, is no other property included? The houses in this city (Philadelphia) are worth more than all the wretched slaves who cover the rice swamps of South Carolina.”

Dayton (NJ) seconded G. Morris’s motion, stating that he did so because he wanted the record to state that he supported it, regardless of whether it ultimately passed.

The motion failed 1–10, with only New Jersey in support.

After unanimously passing a few more uncontroversial sections, and then briefly arguing over and then passing the section that required money bills to originate in the House of Representatives, the Convention adjourned.

Synopsis

• The delegates debated residency and citizenship requirements for representatives in the draft Constitution and ultimately passed them largely unchanged.
• The Convention passed a motion that would give Congress flexibility in determining the size of the House of Representatives by allowing for the population of house districts to increase as the nation grew.
• Provoked by the increased representation slave states received in Congress, Gouverneur Morris (PA) and King (MA) gave angry speeches against the institution of slavery and against representation for enslaved non-citizens, but ultimately failed to effect any change.

Delegates Today

• Johnson (CT) dined at Dr. Benjamin Rush’s and bought four shillings and six pence worth of snuff.
• Washington (VA) dined at City Tavern and remained there till nearly 10 o’clock.
• Massachusetts Congressman Samuel Holten wrote Gorham (MA) that he was leaving the Confederation Congress in a few days, which would leave Massachusetts unrepresented.

Philadelphia Today

• The Pennsylvania Gazette carried “An Essay on the Means of Promoting Federal Sentiments in the United States, by a Foreign Spectator,” and a story date-lined Nassau, the Bahamas, detailing procedures for “applications for the admission of claims of parties incapable of attending in person,” published by the commissioners for “enquiring into the claims of American loyalists.”