With the passage of this great measure the victories of the abolitionists reached their climax. From 1807 up to 1818 their successes were fairly balanced by their reverses. The great acquisitions of new territory during this period were so many triumphs for the South, and the new free States which came into existence were erected in districts into which the slave system had never ventured. The spirit which had supported the friends of humanity in their labors seemed to be gradually decaying. The representatives of free principles in the southern States grew yearly less numerous, while an unaccountable apathy was creeping over the once vigorous and energetic societies of the North. Politicians took less and less interest in views which, if openly professed, would rob them of many friends, while candidates for National offices took refuge from such dangerous ground in discreet silence or studied ambiguity. Without spending time, therefore, upon the many less important debates that intervened between this and the year 1819 we may pass at once to the memorable one which in that and the following year, threw the whole nation into a state of unparalleled excitement. A few remarks will serve to explain the origin of this new form of the question. In 1787, before the adoption of the Constitution, the old Congress had, by a _unanimous_ vote, passed their famous ordinance for the government of the territories of the United States. Among the fundamental conditions of this compact, as it was called, and which was “forever to remain unalterable,” except by the mutual consent of both the contracting parties, was an article providing for the perpetual exclusion of slavery from this “virgin soil.” The honor of introducing the provision has been since disputed between Virginia and Massachusetts; but be that as it may, its adoption seems to have been a natural effusion from the spirit of freedom which warmed every heart in those days from New Hampshire to Georgia. The subsequent cessions of territory by Georgia and North Carolina, out of which the States of Mississippi and Tennessee were erected, had, however, been guarded by express reservations of the rights of slaveholders, and these reservations were, as we have seen, necessarily respected by Congress. But upon the purchase of Louisiana and Missouri from France in 1803, no such stipulations had been introduced into the Treaty; yet while Congress does not seem to have thought itself at liberty to interfere with the already vested rights of slaveholders in those territories, every possible measure was adopted to prevent the further increase of the race by migration or importation from abroad. Louisiana was admitted almost immediately, passing with scarce any transition from her condition as a French colony to that of an independent American State. With regard to her, therefore, it was thought inexpedient to startle these recently acquired and scarce reconciled citizens, by legislation which they might misconstrue into arbitrary misgovernment taking advantage of their helplessness. In 1802, 1816 and 1818, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois had been successively and quietly admitted under the terms of the ordinance of ’87. The country was thus in a state of perfect repose so far as this question was concerned. All early excitement had died away, a new generation had arisen in Congress, and new intellects were roaming about seeking the material for agitation and display. At this juncture Missouri applied for admission to the Union. A large majority of the Northern members at once decided that they would in all future legislation bind themselves irrevocably to the free principles of the ordinance of ’87. Missouri, it was true, had at the time a large number of slaves within her borders, but upon these vested rights as the South was pleased to call them, the North did not propose to encroach. But they contended, that up to the last moment of her territorial existence the paramount authority of Congress over her could not be questioned. The Constitution in providing that “new States may be admitted into the Union,” must have intended to allow Congress to exercise some discretionary power in the case, and how could such power possibly be exercised if not by imposing conditions upon the high privilege they were bestowing.