ividuals restored to freedom is promoted by such a change in condition.In order to render this change eligible as well to the society as to the slaves should result from the act of manumission. This is rendered impossible by the prejudice of the whites, prejudices which must be considered as permanent and inseparable. It only remains then that some proper external receptacle be provided for the slaves who obtain their liberty, " (Hutchinson, 14:163).Madison was concerned with slave labor and his involvement with the institution. HE was quoted as writing Edmund Randolph and saying that he wished to depend "as little as possible on the labor of slaves," (Madison II, 2:154).Madison's marriage to Dolly Payne Todd, a Quaker widow, is thought to have had had a considerable amount of influence on his thoughts towards slavery. Upon moving to Philadelphia, her family freed their slaves allowing her to grow up in an anti-slave environment. There is no concrete evidence of such but she may have helped Madison clarify his own plan.Madison showed a reluctance to accept African Americans in the country after they were freed in 1800. He did however allow Christopher McPherson to visit with an introduction letter from Thomas Jefferson. A gap can be found in his letters from 1790's to 1808 in which there is no mention of the slave trade or slavery, Historian Matthew T. Mellon explains this on the grounds that no problems existed at this time. The Constitution had made the slave trade illegal in Georgia and the Carolinas, and the rest of the states were awaiting it to be done away with all together (Melon, p129). The slave trade was done away with in 1808 but abuses were still common. In 1816, Madison, as president, petitioned Congress to make a total suppression of the slave trade.Edward Coles, Madison's private secretary, prodded Madison to take a tougher stand against slavery. "One day 'seeing a gang of Negroes, some in irons, on their wa...
