...never submitted the proposal to the assembly, believing, as he recalled in his Autobiography (1821), "that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day," forty years later. Given the slow, indeed imperceptible, progress of public opinion, it is extraordinary...

...slaves born after the passage of the legislation, but that the bill had never been introduced because "it was found that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition." Instead, he said, he had prepared legislation that would have provided for the liberation of all children...

...Jefferson wrote in 1820, "that this should be kept back, and attempted only by way of amendment ... It was found that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it even at this day." The passive voice and the impersonal "it" concealed responsibility for judgments...

...amendment whenever the bill should be brought on. The principles of the amendment however were agreed on, that is to say, the freedom of all born after a certain...proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly...

...desire to see the slaves set free. He also talked about the freedom of slaves born after a certain day, "But it was found that the public mind would not yet bear the proposition, nor will it bear it even as this day. Yet the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will follow... It...

...end of his days in 1821, he stated clearly what he considered the necessary terms of emancipation: the freedom of all born after a certain day, and deportation...proposition, nor will it bear it even at this day. Yet the day is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly...