Tom Lehman wrote:
> "Article I Section 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the
> States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the
> Congress prior to the Year on thousand eight hundred and eight,"
>
> The above was called by George Washington, "the Quaker Amendment". It represented one
> of only two attempts in the constitution to limit slavery on a national level.
It is useful once in a while to cut off attempts at "historical" justification of U.S. slavery. Samuel Johnson, the rock-ribbed Tory, once made a toast "To the Next Negro Insurrection in Haiti." He was also a "hawk" during the American War for Independence on the basis that a nation that kept slaves had no right to be free. Decent men and women were as opposed to slavery in 1787 as they are in 1999. (It would be interesting to turn that into a syllogism.)
Carrol