y to a southern market,' Coles taunted the president, 'by congratulating him as the chief of our great republic, that he was not then accompanied by a Foreign Minister and thus saved the deep mortification of witnessing such a revolting sight in the presence of the representative of a nation, less boastful perhaps of its regard for the rights of men, but more observant of them," (Ketchum, p.551).Coles freed his slaves after Madison's retirement from the presidency. He prepared them for emancipation by giving them each some land in Illinois. Their future freedom depended on Madison who wished Coles could change the color of the skin of his freed slaves; for without that "they seemed destined to a privation of that moral ranks and those social participation which gives to freedom more than half its value," (Madison, 8:455).Even after his presidency, Madison continued to give advice about bringing slavery to an end. The Missouri crisis of 1819-1821 put his convictions on slavery to a test. In a letter to the president, Madison denied that Congress had power to attach an antislavery condition on a new state or control migration of slaves within the several states. Madison tries to reveal the founding fathers intentions in the Constitution's clause that states, "the migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight," (Constitution, art. sec.9). Madison says as a matter of compromise the northern states agreed to extend the slave trade for twenty years, because the southern states never would have agreed to ratify the plan that ended importation. Madison felt that the term "migration" meant exclusively from other countries and not within the states. He reiterated this point to his successor, James Monroe.Madison and Jefferson surmised that the real issue in the Missouri debates was not the spread of slavery across th...
