se
in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence, but which was
afterward omitted.

That the emancipation of the negroes was not contemplated, by those in
general, who voted for the resolutions quoted, is evident from the
subsequent action of Virginia, where the greater portion of the meetings
were held. They could not have intended to enfranchise men, whom they
declared to be obstacles in the way of public prosperity, and as
dangerous to the virtues of the people. Nor could the signers of the
Declaration of Independence have designed to include the Indians and
negroes in the assertion that all men are created equal, because these
same men, in afterwards adopting the Constitution, deliberately
excluded the Indians from citizenship, and forever fixed the negro in a
condition of servitude, under that Constitution, by including him, as a
slave, in the article fixing the ratio of Congressional representation
on the basis of five negroes equaling three white men. The phrase--"all
men are created equal"--could, therefore, have meant nothing more than
the declaration of a general principle, asserting the equality of the
colonists, before God, with those who claimed it as a divine right to
lord it over them. The Indians were men as well as the negroes. Both
were within the territory over which the United Colonies claimed
jurisdiction. The exclusion of both from citizenship under the
Constitution, is conclusive that neither were intended to be embraced in
the Declaration of Independence.

That the colonists were determined, at any sacrifice, to achieve their
own liberties, even at the sacrifice of their slave property, seems to
have been the opinion of intelligent Englishmen. Burke, in his speech
already quoted, thus dissipates the hopes of those who expected to find
less resistance at the South than at the North.

"There is, however, a circumstance attending the [Southern] colonies,
which, in my opinion, fully counterbalances this difference, and makes
the spirit of liberty still more high and haughty than in those to the
Northward. It is that in Virginia and the Carolinas, they have a vast
multitude of slaves. Where this is the case, in any part of the world,
those who are free, are by far the most proud and jealous of their
freedom. Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank
and privilege. Not seeing there that freedom, as in countries where it
is a common blessing, and as broad and general as the