As Madison conceded, the specter of slavery haunted the convention, and he argued that "the states were divided into different interests not by their difference of size, but principally from their having or not having slaves. . . . {The conflict} did not lie between the large and small states. It lay between the northern and southern." 85 For many southerners, the slavery issue allowed no room for concessions, and they supported the Virginia Plan in exchange for protecting their peculiar institution.
( Ron Chernow )
[ Alexander Hamilton ]
www.QuoteSweet.com