[HandyDandy]

Well I'm happy for you that you've found yourself another little nugget of fools gold. I know you are quite pleased with yourself, however,........you are still avoiding the question, i.e., "who made the legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce, that Jefferson spoke of?" That was the question to you. I'll give you a hint: it was neither Georgia nor South Carolina. Meanwhile, let me throw the following into the mix ---- Jefferson much later said of the deletion: "Severe strictures on the conduct of the British King, in negativing our repeated repeals of the law which permitted the importation of slaves, were disapproved by some southern gentlemen, whose reflections were not yet matured to the full abhorrence of that traffic." 4 Dec 1818 letter to Robert Walsh, in Saul K. Padover, ed., A Jefferson Profile: As Revealed in his Letters. (New York, 1956) 300.

[jeffersondem]

“Well I'm happy for you that you've found yourself another little nugget of fools gold. I know you are quite pleased with yourself, however . . .”

I have been thinking and wondering why you did not mention Jefferson's quote about northern involvement in deleting the slave trade condemnation. This one:

“The clause too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa, was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who on the contrary still wished to continue it. Our Northern brethren also I believe felt a little tender under those censures; for tho’ their people have very few slaves themselves yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others.”

Was it because you did not want word to get around?