s suffices for a general
description. But in the Carolinas and the island of Jamaica, the cruelties
that have been wantonly exercised on those miserable creatures, are without
a precedent in any other part of the world. If those who have written on
the subject, may be believed, it is not uncommon there, to tie a slave up
and whip him to death.

On all occasions impartiality in the distribution of justice should be
observed. The little state of Rhode Island has been reprobated by other
states, for refusing to enter into measures respecting a new general
government; and so far it is admitted that she is culpable.[4] But if she
is worthy of blame in this respect, she is entitled to the highest
admiration for the philanthropy, justice, and humanity she hath displayed,
respecting the subject I am treating on. She hath passed an act prohibiting
the importation of slaves into that state, and forbidding her citizens to
engage in the iniquitous traffic. So striking a proof of her strong
attachment to the rights of humanity, will rescue her name from oblivion,
and bid her live in the good opinion of distant and unborn generations.

Slavery, unquestionably, should be abolished, particularly in this country;
because it is inconsistent with the declared principles of the American
Revolution. The sooner, therefore, we set about it, the better. Either we
should set our slaves at liberty, immediately, and colonize them in the
western territory;[5] or we should immediately take measures for the
gradual abolition of it, so that it may become a known, and fixed point,
that ultimately, universal liberty, in these united states, shall
triumph.--This is the least we can do in order to evince our sense of the
irreparable outrages we have committed, to wipe off the odium we have
incurred, and to give mankind a confidence again in the justice,
liberality, and honour of our national proceedings.

It would not be difficult to show, were it necessary, that America would
soon become a richer and more happy country, provided the step was adopted.
That corrosive anguish of persevering in anything improper, which now
embitters the enjoyments of life, would vanish as the mist of a foggy morn
doth before the rising sun; and we should find as great a disparity between
our present situation, and that which would succeed to it, as subsists
between a cloudy winter, and a radiant spring.--Besides, our lands would
not be then cut down for the support of a nu