"
On passing the ordinance, the ayes and nays were required by Judge
Yates, of New York, when it appeared _that his was the only vote in the
negative_.
The ordinance of April 23, 1784, was a brief outline of that of '87. It
was reported by a Committee, of which Mr. Jefferson was chairman, and
the report contained a slavery prohibition intended to take effect in
1800. This was stricken out of the report, six States voting to retain
it--three voting to strike out--one being divided (N.C.), and the others
not being represented. (The assent of nine States was necessary to
retain any provision.) And this is the vote alluded to by Mr. Lincoln.
But subsequently, March 16, 1785, a motion was made by Rufus King to
commit a proposition "that there be neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude" in any of the Territories; which was carried by the vote of
eight States, including Maryland.--_Journal Am. Congress,_ vol. 4, pp.
373, 380, 481, 752.
When, therefore, the ordinance of '87 came before Congress, on its final
passage, the subject of slavery prohibition had been "_agitated_" for
nearly three years; and the deliberate and almost unanimous vote of that
body upon that question leaves no room to doubt what the fathers
believed, and how, in that belief, they acted.]
[Footnote 11:--It singularly and fortunately happens that one of the
"thirty-nine," "while engaged on that instrument," viz.
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