Warning Bell in the Night

By Tracy Mitrano. I have always been intrigued by this phrase, uttered by Thomas Jefferson in his elder years when he heard of the Missouri Compromise. As a younger man, slave and plantation owner, statesman, and most importantly, the author of the Declaration of Independence, he was of the belief that slavery was a “peculiar institution” and would fade away of its own accord. Those thoughts occurred to him in the early years of the republic, when drafters of the Constitution sought to smooth over differences about slavery to protect and preserve the new nation. Jefferson was not a signer of the Constitution. He was in France at the time. But as the third person to serve in the executive branch that the Constitution created, one can assume that he believed in it. Read more...