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Lower South Representatives made it a point to vilify the Quakers and sought to shift the focus away from how black-skinned slavery impacted America’s national character, and toward the character of the people requesting Congress intervene. The Quakers, they argued, were self-interested, traitorous, and religious fanatics. They portrayed themselves as patriots concerned about national character and virtue but, during the Revolution, their pacifism meant they hadn’t fought against the British. Furthermore, many Quakers had supported the British, rather than the Americans. The Quakers were traitors and their use of the Revolution’s ideals was hypocritical. Burke called the Quakers “base” and “treacherous” enemies who had sought to enslave the country under King George. Representative James Jackson (Georgia) reminded his colleagues in the House that Gordon’s history declared Quakers “enemies to our cause and constitution.” Jackson called the Quakers “evil spirits hovering over our heads in the gallery,” and Burke compared them to “Milton’s Lucifer, who entered Paradise in the shape of a cormorant.”
Despite staunch Lower South opposition, most Representatives support considering the memorials, arguing that Atlantic Slave Trade did not reflect well on the United States in the eyes of civilized Christian Europe. Several of the Representatives connected Franklin’s statements about America’s founding principles with the Atlantic Slave Trade. Representative Roger Sherman (Connecticut) moved that the memorials be referred to a special committee that would “consist of one member from each state, because several states had already made some regulations on this subject.” Sherman’s motion gained support from representatives from Virginia northward. Of the Representatives who opposed sending the memorials, several stated their moral opposition to the cruel Atlantic Slave Trade, and that Congress ought to alleviate the black-skinned slave’s suffering. Those who supported sending the memorials to the committee used rhetoric of national reputational harm in civilized Christian Europe.
Eventually, the congressional politicians sent the petition to a committee (New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) with no Representatives from the Lower South (North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia). Because of the committee's composition, the final report represented a political alignment among politicians resistant to the Atlantic Slave Trade. They had three policy recommendations. First, they renewed support for the constitutional clause ending the Trade in 1808, and introduced two public policies. Congress had two constitutional powers to regulate the Atlantic Slave Trade - using American ports to supply foreigners with black-skinned slaves and prohibiting foreigners from using American ports to build Atlantic Slave Trade vessels. While there was no final vote, and the committee report died on the floor, the committee established there was a coalition to prevent America from being used as export facility for the Atlantic Slave Trade. policy.”