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Show 24 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. fisbcrmcu, particularly of the Northern States-is a.s abject astha t o f s1a Vc S. I t is the number of laborers wluch pr.o - d uce tl1 0 surp lus for. ta.x._ ation·' and numbers, theref. or.e , m-d. lS Cl·'l ffi·l lla tely , are the fair index to wealth; tha.t It . IS the use of the word "property" here, and its appltcatwn to some of the people of the State, which produce the. fallacy. Jiow does the Southern farmer procure slaves? Either. by · tat1· Hnpor 00 1 or by· purchase from his neighbor. If h•e Im• - ports a slave, he adds one to the ~umber of laborer~ ~n hts coun~.~I r• y, "n" ud , proportionably tO liS profitS and abiltty tO 1 • • • pay taxes. If he buys from his nc1ghbor, It IS only a trans-fer of a laborer from one farm to another, which does not change the annual produce of the State, and therefore should not change its tax; that if a N orthcrn farmer works ten laborers on his farm, he can, it is true, invest the surplus of ten men's labor in cattle ; but so may the Southern farmer, working ten slaves; that a State of one hundred thousand freemen can maintain no more cattle than one of one hundred thousand slaves. Therefore, they have no more of that kind of property. That a slave may, indeed, from the custom of speech, be more properly called the wealth of his m.aster, than tho free laborer might be called the wealth of Ins employers; but as to the State, both were equally its wealth, and should therefore equally add to the quota of its tax. Mr. Ilarrison proposed, as a compromise, that two slaves should be counted as one freeman. lie affirmed that slaves did not do as much work as freemen, and doubted if two effected more than one; that this was proved by the price of labor-the biro of a laborer in the Southern colonics being from £8 to £12, while in tho N orthcrn it was generally £24. lvlr. Wilson said that, if this 11mendmcnt should take place, the Southern colonies would have all the benefit of slaves, whilst the N orthcrn ones would bear the burden; that slaves increase tlle profits of a State, which the ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 25 Southern States mean to take to themselves; that they also iucrcase the burden of defense, which would of course fall so much the heavier on the Northern; that slaves occupy the places of freemen, and cat their food. Dismiss your slaves, and freemen will take their places. IL is our duty to Jay every discoumgcmcnt on the importation of slaves; bn t this amendment would give the ju. ·t 'riwm li'bC'rorum to him who would import slaves; that other kinds of properly were pretty eq nally distriLu ted through all tho colonies;there were as ma11J cattle, horses, and sheep, in the North as tho South, and South as North; but not so as to laves; -that experience has shown that those colonies have been always ablo to pay most which have the most inhabitants, whether they be black or white ; and the practice of tho Southern colonies has always bcC'n to make every farmer pay poll taxes upon all his laborers, whether they be black or white. lle acknowledges, indeed, that frecmcu work tho most, but they consume the most also. They do not produce a greater surplus for taxation. The slave is neither fed nor clothed so cxpcnsi vcly as a freeman. Again, white women arc exempted from Iauor gcncra11y, but negro women are not. In thi., the n, the Southern States have an advantage, as tho Article now stand ·. It has sometimes been sa~d that !:)]avery is nccc sary, because the commoditic they ra1sc would be too dear for mal'lwt, if cultivated by freemen; but now it is said that tho labor of the slave is the dea.reRt. Mr. Payne urged tho original resolution of Congress, to proportion the quotas of the States to the number of souls. Dr. Witherspoon was of opinion that the value of lands and houses was the best estimate of the wca!Lh of a nation, and that it was practicable to oL1 ai n such a valuation. This is the trno barometer of wculth. 'rho OtiC now proposed is imp rl'cct ju itself, and utt eqnal bctwecu tue States. It ltas |