The Question of Slavery.
The vital feature of the ordinance was the prohibition of slavery. This
prohibition was not retroactive; the slaves of the French villagers, and
of the few American slaveholders who had already settled round them,
were not disturbed in their condition. But all further importation of
slaves, and the holding in slavery of any not already slaves, were
prohibited. The prohibition was brought about by the action of the Ohio
Company. Without the prohibition the company would probably not have
undertaken its experiment in colonization; and save for the pressure of
the company slavery would hardly have been abolished. Congress wished to
sell the lands, and was much impressed by the solid worth of the
founders of the association. The New Englanders were anxious to buy the
lands, but were earnest in their determinating to exclude slavery from
the new territory. The slave question was not at the time a burning
issue between North and South; for no Northerner thought of crusading to
destroy the evil, while most enlightened Southerners were fond of
planning how to do away with it. The tact of the company's
representative before Congress, Dr.
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