Missouri June 26, 1821, and a proclamation of Aug. 10 announced the admission of Missouri as a State. The extracts following relate chiefly to the question of slavery as involved in the compromises. REFERENCES. Accompanying each of the following extracts is an indication of the source from which it is drawn. The act for the admission of Maine is in U. S. Stat. at Large, III., 544; the act authorizing Missouri to form a State constitution, ib., III., 545–548. The constitution of 1820 is in Poore's Federal and State Constitutions, II., 1104-1117, and Niles's Register, XIX., 50-57. The proceedings of Congress may be followed in the House and Senate Journals, 16th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess.; full reports of the debates are in the Annals; Benton's Abridgment, VI., VII.; Niles's Register, XVII., XVIII., XIX. The nature and effect of the compromise were much discussed in the debates on the compromise measures of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854. No. 73. Tallmadge's Amendment February 13, 1819 And provided, That the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been fully [duly] convicted; and that all children born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be free at the age of twenty-five years. [Annals, 15th Cong., 2d Sess., 1170.] No. 74. Taylor's Amendment January 26, 1820 The reading of the bill proceeded as far as the fourth section; when Mr. Taylor, of New York, proposed to amend the bill by incorporating in that section the following provision: Section 4, line 25, insert the following after the word “States": “And shall ordain and establish, that there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said State, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly con victed: Provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any other State, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid: And provided, also, That the said provision shall not be construed to alter the condition or civil rights of any person now held to service or labor in the said Territory." [Annals, 16th Cong., 1st Sess., 947.] No. 75. Thomas's Amendment (final form) February 17, 1820 And be it further enacted, That, in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, excepting only such part thereof as is included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby forever prohibited: Provided always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any State or Territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or service, as aforesaid. [Annals, 16th Cong., 1st Sess., 427, 428.] No. 76. Report of the Conference Committee March 1, 1820 [House of Representatives] Mr. Holmes. . . made the following report: 1. That they recommend to the Senate to recede from their amendments to the said bill. 2. That they recommend to the two Houses to agree to strike out [of] the fourth section of the bill from the House of Repre sentatives, now pending in the Senate, entitled "An act to authorize the people of Missouri to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States," the following proviso in the following words: [here follows the Taylor amendment.] And that the following provision be added to the bill: [here follows the Thomas amendment.] [Annals, 16th Cong., 1st Sess., 1576, 1577.] No. 77. Missouri Enabling Act March 6, 1820 An Act to authorize the people of the Missouri territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and to prohibit slavery in certain territories. Be it enacted. That the inhabitants of that portion of the Missouri territory included within the Boundaries hereinafter designated, be, and they are hereby, authorized to form for themselves a constitution and state government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper; and the said state, when formed, shall be admitted into the Union, upon an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatsoever. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said state shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning in the middle of the Mississippi river, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees of north latitude; thence west, along that parallel of latitude, to the St. Francois river; thence up, and following the course of that river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the parallel of latitude of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes; thence west, along the same, to a point where the said parallel is intersected by a meridian line passing through the middle of the mouth of the Kansas river, where the same empties into the Missouri river, thence, from the point aforesaid north, along the said meridian line, to the intersection of the parallel of latitude which passes through the rapids of the river Des Moines, making the said line to correspond with the Indian boundary line; thence east, from the point of intersection last aforesaid, along the said parallel of latitude, to the middle of the channel of the main fork of the said river Des Moines; thence down and along the middle of the main channel of the said river Des Moines, to the mouth of the same, where it empties into the Mississippi river; thence, due east, to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river; thence down, and following the course of the Mississippi river, in the middle of the main channel thereof, to the place of beginning: SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of the state, contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited: Provided always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labour or service is lawfully claimed, in any state or territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labour or service as aforesaid. [U. S. Stat. at Large, III., 545, 546, 548.] No. 78. Constitution of Missouri July 19, 1820 [ART. III.] SEC. 26. The general assembly shall not have power to pass laws 1. For the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners; or without paying them, before such emancipation, a full equivalent for such slaves so emancipated; and, 2. To prevent bona-fide immigrants to this State, or actual settlers therein, from bringing from any of the United States, or from any of their Territories, such persons as may there be deemed to be slaves, so long as any persons of the same description are allowed to be held as slaves by the laws of this State. They shall have power to pass laws 1. To prohibit the introduction into this State of any slaves who may have committed any high crime in any other State or Territory; 2. To prohibit the introduction of any slave for the purpose of speculation, or as an article of trade or merchandise; 3. To prohibit the introduction of any slave, or the offspring of any slave, who heretofore may have been, or who hereafter may be, imported from any foreign country into the United States, or any Territory thereof, in contravention of any existing statute of the United States; and, 4. To permit the owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving the right of creditors, where the person so emancipating will give security that the slave so emancipated shall not become a public charge. It shall be their duty, as soon as may be, to pass such laws as may be necessary 1. To prevent free negroes end [and] mulattoes from coming to and settling in this State, under any pretext whatsoever; and, 2. To oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity, and to abstain from all injuries to them extending to life or limb. [Poore, Federal and State Constitutions (ed. 1877), II., 1107, 1108.] No. 79. Resolution for the Admission of March 2, 1821 Resolution providing for the admission of the State of Missouri into the Union, on a certain condition. Resolved. That Missouri shall be admitted into this union on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever, upon the fundamental condition, that the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section of the third article of the constitution submitted on the part of said state to Congress, shall never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law |