d States in Congress
assembled, and of the particular State within which such
alteration is proposed to be made."

This was a proposition to exclude slavery forever after 1800, not only
from the territories which had been, and might afterwards be, ceded,
but from the States to be formed in them, and to make it a fundamental
Constitution between the original States and each new State. It
excited a short discussion, and was postponed from time to time to the
19th of April, when Mr. SPEIGHT, of North Carolina, moved to strike it
out. The motion was seconded by Mr. REED, of South Carolina. The vote
by States, on the motion to strike out, was:

YEAS.--Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina--3.

NAYS.--New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania--6.

This was under the Confederation articles, which provided that the
vote on all questions should be taken by States, each State casting
one vote; that no proposition could be adopted without the vote of
seven States in favor of it, and that the vote of no State could be
counted unless two members, at least, were present. As there were but
six States in favor of the proposition to prohibit slavery after 1800,
it was stricken out.

There was but one member present from New Jersey, and the vote of that
State was not counted. The member present voted for Mr. JEFFERSON'S
proposition. Another vote from that State would have made the required
number, and carried the measure.

In North Carolina, WILLIAMSON voted for prohibition, and SPEIGHT
against it. One more vote from that State would have made seven States
for the proposition, and it would have been carried.

JEFFERSON voted for his own proposition to prohibit; and if one of the
other two members present from Virginia had voted with him, that, too,
would have made the required number of seven States.

The vote North and South, by members, was in favor of prohibition:
North, 14; South, 2--total, 16. Against prohibition, South, 7.

The majority was more than two-thirds; enough to carry it over an
executive veto under the present Constitution, and yet it was
defeated. And this vote was given in favor of absolute and
unconditional prohibition, and that alone, without the right of
reclaiming fugitive slaves, or any proposition, or any expectation to
confer it. Under the Confederation, no such right existed, nor was it
agreed to till more than three years afterwards