statute, all title to slave property, acquired under former acts,
was by this act annihilated; and all the slaves in the State were made
freemen, _as against all prior legislation_. And the slaves of the State
were thenceforward held in bondage only by virtue of another section of
the same act, which was in these words:

"That all persons _who have been_, or shall be imported into this
colony, by sea or land, and were not Christians in their native country,
except Turks and Moors in amity with his majesty, and such who can prove
their being free in England, or any other Christian country, before they
were shipped for transportation hither, shall be accounted slaves, and
as such be here bought and sold, notwithstanding a conversion to
Christianity after their importation."--_Hening, vol. 6, p. 356-7._

The act also provided, "That all children shall be bond or free,
according to the condition of their mothers and the particular
directions of this act."]

[Footnote 13: The following is the preamble and the important enacting
clause of this statute of 1740:

"Whereas, in his majesty's plantations in America, slavery has been
introduced and allowed; and the people commonly called negroes, Indians,
mulattos and mestizoes have (been) deemed absolute slaves, and the
subjects of property in the hands of particular persons; the extent of
whose power over such slaves ought to be settled and limited by positive
laws, so that the slaves may be kept in due subjection and obedience,
and the owners and other persons having the care and government of
slaves, may be restrained from exercising too great vigor and cruelty
over them; and that the public peace and order of this province may be
preserved: _Be it enacted_, That all negroes, Indians, (_free_ Indians
in amity with this government, and negroes, mulattos and mestizoes, _who
are now free, excepted_,) mulattos and mestizoes, who now are or shall
hereafter be in this province, and all their issue and offspring born or
to be born, shall be and they are hereby declared to be and remain
forever hereafter absolute slaves, and shall follow the condition of the
mother," &c.--_Grimke, p. 163-4. Brevard, vol. 2, p. 229._]

CHAPTER V.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

Admitting, for the sake of the argument, that prior to the revolution,
slavery had a constitutional existence, (so far as it is possible that
crime can have such an existence,) was it not abolished by the
decl