Tallmadge Amendment
Proposed 1819 American legislation / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tallmadge Amendment was a proposed amendment to a bill regarding the admission of the Territory of Missouri as a state, under which Missouri would be admitted as a free state. The amendment was submitted in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 13, 1819, by James Tallmadge Jr., a Democratic-Republican from New York, and Charles Baumgardner.
The measure passed the House 87-76, with northern Representatives voting 86-10 for it and southern Representatives voting 66-1 against it. The amendment, however, was rejected in the U.S. Senate, because of growing Southern opposition to slavery that was joined by five northern Senators: Harrison G. Otis of Massachusetts, Ninian Edwards and Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois, and two others.[1]
In 1820, the Missouri Compromise was passed without the Tallmadge Amendment. The Compromise attempted to appease both sides of the debate by admitting Missouri as a slave state in exchange for the admission of Maine as a free state and by the complete prohibition of slavery in all of the remaining Louisiana Purchase territory north of the 36˚30' parallel.[2]