Yet the fate of the measure
was uncertain, for some of Monroe's southern friends strongly urged
him still to veto the compromise. [Footnote: Cong. Globe, 30 Cong.,
2 Sess., App. 64.] The president submitted to the cabinet the
question whether Congress had the right to prohibit slavery in a
territory, and whether the section of the Missouri bill which
interdicted slavery forever in the territory north of 36 degrees 30'
was applicable only to the territorial condition, or also to states
made from the territory. John Quincy Adams notes in his diary that
"it was unanimously agreed that Congress have the power to prohibit
slavery in the Territories"; though he adds that neither Crawford,
Calhoun, nor Wirt could find any express power to that effect given
in the Constitution. [Footnote: Adams, Memoirs, V., 5.] In order to
avoid the difficulty arising from the fact that Adams alone believed
the word "forever" to apply to states as well as territories, the
president modified the question so that all would be able to answer
that the act was constitutional, leaving each member to construe the
section to suit himself.
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