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Article: Abolitionists Were Fighting a Losing Battle; Despite Group's Efforts, Slave Trade Was Politically Robust Series: The Summer of '87
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- August 17, 1987
- Author:
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In the summer of 1787, as the Constitutional Convention convened,
another convention was taking place in the city of Philadelphia: a
gathering of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of
Slavery, which believed that slavery-not the public debt-was the
nation's greatest peril.
Knowing that the other convention was writing a constitution, the
abolitionist society drew up a petition calling for a provision
banning "the African trade in the United States."
"In vain will be" Americans' "Pretentions to a love of liberty or
regard for national Character while they share in the profits of a
Commerce that can only be conducted upon Rivers of human tears and
Blood," the petition said.