ed, but opened a door for Negroes of the time, to fight for that same liberty. Madison felt that you could not fight honorably for your own liberty while holding others in bondage. He demonstrated these same ideas in the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence. Madison was known for making frequent trips to Philadelphia in which he carried one of his educated slaves, Billey. Billey marveled at the document and the ideas behind freedom. Madison gathered that Billey had become too advanced to be held in captivity as a normal slave. Madison wrote his father saying:"I can not think of punishing him by transportation merely for coveting that liberty for which we have paid the price of so much blood, and have proclaimed so often to be that the right and worthy the pursuit, of every being," (Hutchinson, 7:304). Billey's arrangements were set by Pennsylvania law and proved to be beneficial because after the first seven years of his freedom he became an associate correspondent for Madison's finances handling most of the families business.In Virginia, Madison argued against proposals by Carter H. Harrison that would repeal a 1782 act allowing slave owners to voluntarily manumit their slaves. The delegates passed the act by a single vote. Madison looked at this as a backward step that would allow the freeing of all slaves to come sooner. He agreed with Thomas Jefferson that there should be a gradual freeing of the slaves. Madison voted with Jefferson on a bill that would call for the gradual emancipation of slaves. The bill failed to pass but a young French observer by the name of Marquis de Chastellux gave a profound insight into Madison's character. He wrote in his journal that Madison was, "A young man [who] Astonishes his eloquence, his wisdom, and his genius, has had the humanity and courage (for such a proposition requires no small share of courage) to propose a general emancipation of the slaves" (Chastellux, p....
