Papers Relative to the Restriction of Slavery: speeches of Mr. King in the Senate, and of Messrs. Taylor & Talmadge [sic] in the House of Representatives of the United States, on the bill for authorising the people of the territory of Missouri to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of the same into the Union, in the session of 1818-19 : with a report of a committee of the Abolition Society of Delaware. Philadelphia: Hall & Atkinson, 1819.
![Papers Relative to the Restriction of Slavery: speeches of Mr. King in the Senate, and of Messrs. Taylor & Talmadge [sic] in the House of Representatives of the United States, on the bill for authorising the people of the territory of Missouri to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of the same into the Union, in the session of 1818-19 : with a report of a committee of the Abolition Society of Delaware. Philadelphia: Hall & Atkinson, 1819.](https://sca.bowdoin.edu/state-of-maine/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/nggallery/state-of-maine/king-tallmadge-taylor-speeches.jpg "Papers Relative to the Restriction of Slavery: speeches of Mr. King in the Senate, and of Messrs. Taylor & Talmadge [sic] in the House of Representatives of the United States, on the bill for authorising the people of the territory of Missouri to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of the same into the Union, in the session of 1818-19 : with a report of a committee of the Abolition Society of Delaware. Philadelphia: Hall & Atkinson, 1819.")
Senator Rufus King (1755-1827) of New York supported Senate action to abolish the domestic slave trade in 1817, and, in 1819, spoke strongly for the antislavery amendment to the Missouri statehood bill. In 1819, his arguments were political, economic, and humanitarian; the extension of slavery would adversely affect the security of the principles of freedom and liberty. After the Missouri Compromise, he continued to support gradual emancipation in various ways. When the Missouri statehood bill was opened for debate in the House of Representatives, early exchanges on the floor moved forward without serious incident. In the course of these proceedings, however, Representative James Tallmadge Jr. (1778-1853) of New York proposed an amendment to prohibit further introduction of slavery for states seeking admission to the United States. Congressman John W. Taylor (1784-1854), a fellow New York Republican, stepped in to fill the void when Tallmadge fell ill. Taylor also had antislavery credentials—in February 1819, he had proposed a similar slave restriction for Arkansas Territory in the House, which was defeated 89 to 87. In the speech included in this publication, delivered before the House and during the debate on the Tallmadge Amendment, Taylor was highly critical of Southern lawmakers who frequently voiced their dismay that slavery was entrenched and necessary to their existence, and warned that Missouri’s fate would “decide the destiny of millions” in future states in the American West.