1. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The augmentation of slaves weakens states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and disgraceful to mankind; yet, by this Constitution, it is continued for twenty years. As much as I value a union of all the states, I would not admit the Southern States into the Union unless they agree to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade, because it would bring weakness, and not strength, to the Union. And, though this infamous traffic be continued, we have no security for the property of that kind which we have already. There is no clause in the Constitution to secure it; for they may lay such a tax as will amount to manumission.
“奴隶的引进削弱各州;这种交易本身是邪恶的,而且是人类的耻辱;但是,依照这部宪法,它将持续二十年。尽管我重视各州组成联邦,但除非它们能够同意终止这种交易,我不能让各州加入这个联邦,因为它将会削弱,而不是加强联邦。再者,如果这种肮脏的交易还要继续的话,我们无法保护已经拥有的同种类别的财产(译者注:即黑奴)。这部宪法里没有条文保护它;因为他们可以通过加税而导致奴隶的解放。”(转引自Jonathan Elliot (1836), The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution)
梅森和美国建国初期的很多先驱者一样,也是拥有黑奴的种植园主,他甚至是费城立宪会议参与者中拥有黑奴最多的人。弗吉尼亚的种植园,最早的时候是以种植和出口烟草为主的。但烟草是一种非常消耗土地资源的植物,连年的种植使土壤变得非常贫瘠。在建国前后,美国的农业重心已经开始向西、向南转移。南部与弗吉尼亚接近的南北卡罗来纳、乔治亚等州正逐渐成为棉花种植基地。棉花是一种很费人工的作物,这些州的庄园主都需要大量的劳动力——即黑奴。Anderson, Rowley 和Tollison 1988年在Journal of Legal Studies上发表了一篇名为 "Rent Seeking and the Restriction of Human Exchange"(寻租和人力交易的限制)的论文,他们指出,梅森正是想通过禁止黑奴进口来提高自己拥有的黑奴的价值(他并不反对在美国国内进行的奴隶交易)。
我们不能脱离历史现实来评价历史人物。Anderson等人的论文虽然揭示了梅森反对宪法的深层理由,但梅森在世的时候主要是“蓄奴” (为其所拥庄园提供劳力)而非“倒卖黑奴”;从严格意义上来说,这篇论文里提出的还只是一个假说,尚未找到“铁证”。梅森自己在书信里提到过自己对黑奴制度的憎恨。他关于奴隶制的言论包括:“Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.”(奴隶制阻碍艺术和制造业的发展。当劳动都是由奴隶付出的时候穷人就会鄙视它。)“"Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of Heaven on a country.”(每一个奴隶主生下来就是一个暴君。他们给这个国家带来天庭的审判。)从这些话语中我们可以体会到,他对奴隶制的憎恶是由衷的。但梅森也提到,如果一下子解放所有的黑奴,将会导致南部种植园经济的崩溃,而且如果只有几个庄园主解放他们的奴隶而又没有法律保护的话,这些奴隶很可能会被其它庄园主重新抓回去再度沦入奴隶制。究竟怎么从这种困境里走出来呢?梅森并没有找到一个可行的方案。黑奴制度无疑是美国历史上一个洗不掉的污点,不光是梅森,华盛顿、杰弗逊等开国元勋都为此事上有过强烈的道德和政治上的挣扎。但当时他们都是“体制内”的人物,并不能马上说做就做,立即将这种制度抛弃。
… I charge them on a father’s blessing never to let the motives of private interests or ambition induce them to betray, nor the terrors of poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger or of death, deter them from asserting the liberty of their country and endeavoring to transmit to their posterity those sacred rights to which themselves were born.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year
……
在那天夜里,一个叫做RobertNewman的人爬上了波士顿最高的Old North Church的塔尖,将两个灯笼点亮。Revere看到灯笼的信号后就开始了他的夜奔。
He watched with eager search
The Belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and somberand still.
And lo!
As he looks, on the belfry’s height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
Revere同时代的画家John Singleton Copley给他画了一幅画像,这幅画现在藏于Boston Museum of Fine Arts(波士顿美术馆)。此人是波士顿本地著名的画家,另一幅很有名的作品描绘了英军制造的波士顿惨案。