In this spirit was the National Constitution adopted. Glance now at the earliest Congress assembled under this Constitution. Among the petitions presented to that body was one from the Abolition Society of Pennsylvania, signed by Benjamin Franklin, as President. This venerable man, whose active life had been devoted to the welfare of mankind at home and abroad, who as philosopher and statesman had arrested the attention of the world,--who had ravished the lightning from the skies, and the sceptre from a tyrant,--who, as member of the Continental Congress, had set his name to the Declaration of Independence, and, as member of the Convention, had again set his name to the National Constitution,--in whom was embodied, more, perhaps, than in any other person, the true spirit of American institutions, at once practical and humane,--than whom no one could be more familiar with the purposes and aspirations of the founders,--this veteran, eighty-four years of age, within a few months only of his death, now appeared by petition at the bar of that Congress whose powers he had helped to define and establish. "Your memorialists," he says,--and this Convention now repeats the words of Franklin,--"particularly engaged in attending to the distresses arising from Slavery, believe it their indispensable duty to present this subject to your notice. They have observed with real satisfaction that many important and salutary powers are vested in you for 'promoting the welfare and securing the blessings of Liberty to the people of the United States'; and as they conceive that these blessings ought rightfully to be administered, _without distinction of color_, to all descriptions of people, _so they indulge themselves in the pleasing expectation that nothing which can be done, for the relief of the unhappy objects of their care will be either omitted or delayed_." The memorialists conclude as follows,--and this Convention adopts their weighty words as its own: "Under these impressions they earnestly entreat your serious attention to the subject of Slavery; _that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men, who alone, in this land of Freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage_, and who, amidst the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjection; that you will devise means for removing this inconsistency from the character of the American people; that you will promote mercy and justice towards this distressed race; _and that you will step to the very verge_ _of the power vested in you for DISCOURAGING every species of traffic in the persons of our fellow-men_. "BENJ. FRANKLIN, _President_."[8] [5] Madison's Debates, p. 1263. [6] Ibid. p. 1429. [7] Letter to Robert Morris, April 12, 1786: Writings, ed. Sparks, Vol. IX. p. 159.