act of Congress became a law March 6, 1820. It was necessary for Missouri to adopt a constitution which must receive the approval of Congress. The territorial convention adopted a constitution sanctioning slavery and prohibiting the legislature from ever abolishing it, and containing a further clause empowering the legislature to prohibit the immigration of free negroes into the State. These two provisions were made the occasion for violent opposition to the admission of the State and gave rise to other acrimonious discussion, in which the opponents of admission were charged with bad faith. The Senate and House again disagreed. Finally, a conference committee was appointed by the House on the motion of Henry Clay. This committee met a similar committee from the Senate and agreed upon a joint resolution which is sometimes called the Second Missouri Compromise. This resolution provided for the admission of the State as soon as her Legislature should, by law, declare that the clause in her constitution relative to the immigration of free negroes "shall never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the States of this Union shall be excluded from any of the privileges and immunities to which such citizen is entitled under the Constitution of the United States." Upon such action of her Legislature being duly certified, the President was authorized to declare the admission of the State.
This resolution passed the Senate 28 to 14 and passed the House by the slender majority of four, the vote being 86 to 82. The entire Southern delegation, with the exception of a few members led by John Randolph, voted throughout the controversy for the Missouri Compromise. In this they were aided by a small party of Northern Republicans. Mr. Benton, than whom there is no higher authority, either in point of accurate judgment or truthful testimony, says of the effort to prevent the admission:
