tion of slaves in Tennessee, and
on the same date, Senter of Rhea County also brought a petition from
"sundry citizens" of his district asking for emancipation.[34] On the
28th, a memorial was given by Stephenson of Washington County from
citizens unhesitatingly favoring emancipation. It was read and tabled.

On May 30, Stephenson introduced a resolution to have a committee of
thirteen, one from each congressional district "appointed to take in
consideration the propriety of designating some period from which
slavery shall not be tolerated in this state, and that all memorials
on that subject that have or may be presented to the convention be
referred to said committee to consider and report thereon."[35] This
resolution passed without trouble.

Stephenson was conspicuous for adherence to emancipation principles.
It will be observed that he came from Washington County, in the far
eastern portion of the State, the region already famous for its
declaration of enmity toward slavery within Tennessee borders
especially. An article in the _Knoxville Register_ of the year 1831,
just a few years prior to this Nashville Convention, denounces slavery
in no uncertain terms, but also grows bitter at the thought of free
men of color even remaining in the State. "Shall Tennessee" it asks,
"be made the receptacle of the vicious and desperate slave as well as
the depraved and corrupting free man of color?"[36]

But while a great number of those of East Tennessee probably wanted
the abolition of slavery in order to rid the State of all people of
color, there were those who through their delegates expressed their
opinions otherwise in this convention, as has been intimated in the
three memorials from "sundry citizens" of Washington and McMinn and
Rhea Counties. Finally, the report of the Committee of Thirteen was
given by John A. McKinney, of Hawkins County. It will be noted as an
exception to the rule that this representative of an eastern county
did not vigorously stand for the emancipation of the slave, but in his
report spoke at length to attempt the justification of the system
prevailing at that time in the State. Some of the most interesting
points of his argument are: that slavery is an evil, but hard to
remove, that the physiognomy of the slave is the great barrier to
successful adjustment socially as far as white citizens think and
feel, that the condition of the free man of color is tragic, that
beset with temptations, and d