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Show 160 'J1IIE OHDI~ANCE OF 1787. rrhe report was further considered and amended on the 201 h and 21st. On Lhc 23d iL was agreed to (Len States voting Aye, and one No), without the clause prohibiting slavery and involuntary serviLnde after the year 1800. On the question to agree to the report, after the prohibitory clan ·e was struck out, the yeas and nays were required by Mr. Beresford. The vote was: Ayes-New Hampshire, Mr. Foster, Mr. Blanchard; Massachusetts, Mr. Gerry, Mr. Partridge; Rhode Island, Mr. Ellery, Mr. Ilowcll; Conneclieut, Mt·. Sherman, Mt·. Wadsworth; New York, Mr. Dewitt, Mr. Payne; New Jersey, :Mr. Beatty, M1·. Dick; Pen nsy l van in., Mr·. Mifllin, :Mr. :Montgomery, Mr. llauu; .Marybn<l, Mr. Stone, Mr. Chase; Virginia, Mr. J efl'erson, Mr . .1\'lcrccr, :M.r. ~ionroc; North CtLrolina, Mr. 'iVilliamson, Mr. paip;ht. Nays--South Caroliua, Mr. Read, ~lr. Bcrcsfon.l. A.b.c;ent-Delaware, Georgia. 1'hus the report or M.r .• J cffcrson fol' the tern pomry government of the \;V estern 'ferritory, witltou t any restriction as to slavery, received the vote of every SLate present except South Carolina. It diu not lie on the taLle of Cougre s <luring the three years from 17 ) 4 to 17 87. During these three years it was the law uf the land. It was repealed in 1787. Nearly a year after tho first plan was acloptcd, the clause origiually o[cred by Mr. J efl'crson, as a part of the charter of compact and fundamental con ·t'il ution8 between the thirteen original Stales an<l the new States to be formed in the Western Territory prohibiting slavery and involuntary servitude, was again submitt ed to Congress, omitting tlJe time nameu, II uJtcr the year 1800 of the Christian era .. '' On the 16th March, 1 785-" A motion wns made by Mt·. King, seconded by Mr. Ellery, thaL the following proposition be committed: THE OTI.DlNANCE 01<' l7b7. 161 11 That there shaH Lc neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the States deseriiJed in the resolve of Congress of the 23<1 of April, 1784, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been per. on ally guilty; an<l that this regulation shall be an article of compact, and remain a fundamental prin ciple of the constitutions between the thirteen original Stales, and each of the States described in the said resolve of the 23rl of April, 1784." The motion was, 11 that the following proposition be committed "-that is, committed to a committee ef the whole llouse : it was not "in the nature of an instrtlL tion to the Committee on the Western Territory." At that time there was no such committee. It was a separate, inde]: Jcndent proposition. Tho very terms of it show that it wns offered as an addition to the resol ve of April 23d, 17 84, with the inteu tion of restoring to that resolve a clause tlJat had originally formed part of it. Mr. King's motion to commit was agreed to; eight States (New Tiampshirc, Massachusetts, H.hodc Island, Connecticut, New York, New J crsey, Pennsyl vani :t, nml Maryland) voted in the affirmative, and three SLates (Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina) in the 11egative. Neither Delaware nor Georgia was represented. After the commitment of this proposition, it was neither called up in Congress nor noticed by any of the committees who subsequently reported plans for the government of the Western Terri tory. The subject was not laid over from this time till September, 17 8e. It is noticed as being before Congress on the 24th of March, the lOlh of ~1ay, the 13th of July, and the 24th of August, of that year. On the 24th of ."March, 17 86, a report was m:tcle by the gmnd committee of the ]louse, to whom had been referred 11 |