South Carolina and Georgia maintained that they were persons; the Northern states said they were merely property.
Now indeed there was a clashing over local interest; but it was decided that in counting the population, whether for taxation, or for representation in the lower house, a slave should be considered as three fifths of an individual. And so it stood until the outbreak of the Civil War.
It was a bitter pill for far-sighted men like Washington, Madison, and others, who did not believe in slavery. Without this compromise, however, they believed that nine slave states would never adopt the Constitution, and doubtless they were right.
The slave question was the real bone of contention that resulted in the third compromise. The majority of the delegates, especially those from Virginia, were not in favor of slavery.
{ 150} "This infernal traffic that brings the judgment of Heaven on a country!" said George Mason of Virginia.
At first, it was proposed to abolish foreign slave trade. South Carolina and Georgia sturdily protested.
They declared that it was not a question of morality or of religion, but purely a matter of business.
Rhode Island had refused to send delegates; and those from New York had gone home in anger. The discussions were bitter, and the situation became dangerous.
While the convention "was scarcely held together by the strength of a hair," the question came up for discussion, whether Congress or the individual states should have control over commerce.
The New England states, with their wealth of shipping, said that by all means Congress should have the control, and should make a uniform tariff in all the states. This, it was believed, would put an end to all the wranglings and the unjust acts which were so ruinous to commerce.
The extreme Southern states that had no shipping said it would never do; for New England, by controlling the carrying trade, would extort ruinous prices for shipping tobacco and rice.
When the outlook seemed darkest, two of the Connecticut delegates suggested a compromise.
"Yes," said Franklin, "when a carpenter wishes to fit two boards, he sometimes pares off a bit from each."
{ 151} It was finally decided that there should be free trade between the states, and that Congress should control commerce.
