Excerpt from Speech of Mr. Smyth, on the Restriction of Slavery in Missouri: Delivered in the House of Representatives of the United States, January 28, 1820 It has been said, (0) that in Virginia free persons elect a member of the House of Representatives, and that in a northern state free persons elect a mem ber. Let us state the facr. A member from Vermont represents persons only; a member from Virginia represents more than persons. In forming a con stitution for a state, it may be proper that a given number of free persons in one part of the state should have as much political power as an equal number in any other part of the same state but, in forming a constitution for a confederacy of states, each should exercise a share of power, and bear a share of public burdens, proportioned to their respective ability. The ability of a state may be fairly estimated by its capacity for labor - the source of wealth. Lf men only were enumerated, there might be some reason for dropping a portion of the number of the slaves; yet even that is doubtful, as many of the freemen are idle, and belong to the unproductive class, whereas the men slaves are generally productive labor ers: but why should five women or five children, who are unproductive, and have no political rights, be count ed five, in proportioning the number of representatives, while five negro men, productive laborers, are counted only three? A concession was indeed made in the con vention in proportioning the representatives among the states; but it seems to me that the southern states made it, in agreeing to count only three-fifths of the slaves. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.