ship in which they will sail, to cruise along the coast, to give
the more complete effect to the principal object of the act.

"JAMES MONROE.

"WASHINGTON, December, 17, 1819."

In March, 1818, the delegate from Missouri presented petitions from
the inhabitants of that territory, praying to be admitted into the
Union as a State. They were referred to a select committee, and a bill
was reported for the admission of Missouri as a State on equal footing
with the other States. The bill was read twice, when it was sent to
the Committee of the Whole, where it was permitted to remain during
the entire session. During the next session, on the 13th of February,
1819, the House went into the Committee of the Whole with Gen. Smith,
of Maryland, in the chair. The committee had two sittings during which
they discussed the bill. Gen. Tallmadge, of New York, offered the
following amendment directed against the life of the clause admitting
slavery:

"And provided that the introduction of slavery, or involuntary
servitude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes
whereof the party has been duly convicted, and that all children
born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the
Union, shall be declared free at the age of twenty-five years."

A long and an able discussion followed, in which the authority of the
government to prohibit slavery under new State governments was
affirmed and denied. On coming out of the Committee of the Whole, the
yeas and nays were demanded on the amendment prohibiting the
introduction of slavery into Missouri, and resulted as follows: yeas,
87,--only one vote from the South, Delaware; nays, 76,--ten votes
from Northern States. Upon the latter clause of the amendment--"and
that all children of slaves, born within the said State, after the
admission thereof into the Union, shall be declared free at the age of
twenty-five years": yeas, 82,--one vote from Maryland; nays,
78,--fourteen from Northern States. And thus the entire amendment of
Gen. Tallmadge was sustained, and being reported to the House, passed
by a vote 98 to 56.

The bill reached the Senate on the 17th of February, and after its
second reading was referred to a select committee. On the 22d of
February, the chairman, Mr. Tait, of Georgia, reported the bill back
with amendments, striking out the Tallmadge restriction clauses. The
House