'
Here, palpably, was no labor of compromise, no adjustment of conflicting
interest,--nor even any expression of solicitude. The clause finally
adopted was vague and faint as the original suggestion. In its natural
import it is not applicable to slaves. If supposed by some to
be applicable, it is clear that it was supposed by others to be
inapplicable. It is now insisted that the term "persons bound to
service," or "held to service," as expressed in the final revision, is
the equivalent or synonym for "slaves." This interpretation is rebuked
by an incident to which reference has been already made, but which will
bear repetition. On the 13th September--a little more than a fortnight
after the clause was adopted, and when, if deemed to be of any
significance, it could not have been forgotten--the very word "service,"
came under debate, and received a fixed meaning. It was unanimously
adopted as a substitute for "servitude" in another part of the
Constitution, for the reason that it expressed "the obligations of free
persons," while the other expressed "the condition of slaves.
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