59. Legislative History of the Bill.[56] On December 12, 1805, Senator Stephen R. Bradley of Vermont gave notice of a bill to prohibit the introduction of slaves after 1808.  By a vote of 18 to 9 leave was given, and the bill read a first time on the 17th.  On the 18th, however, it was postponed until “the first Monday in December, 1806.”  The presidential message mentioning the matter, Senator Bradley, December 3, 1806, gave notice of a similar bill, which was brought in on the 8th, and on the 9th referred to a committee consisting of Bradley, Stone, Giles, Gaillard, and Baldwin.  This bill passed, after some consideration, January 27.  It provided, among other things, that violations of the act should be felony, punishable with death, and forbade the interstate coast-trade.[57]

Meantime, in the House, Mr. Bidwell of Massachusetts had proposed, February 4, 1806, as an amendment to a bill taxing slaves imported, that importation after December 31, 1807, be prohibited, on pain of fine and imprisonment and forfeiture of ship.[58] This was rejected by a vote of 86 to 17.  On December 3, 1806, the House, in appointing committees on the message, “Ordered, That Mr. Early, Mr. Thomas M. Randolph, Mr. John Campbell, Mr. Kenan, Mr. Cook, Mr. Kelly, and Mr. Van Rensselaer be appointed a committee” on the slave-trade.  This committee reported a bill on the 15th, which was considered, but finally, December 18, recommitted.  It was reported in an amended form on the 19th, and amended in Committee of the Whole so as to make violation a misdemeanor punishable by fine and imprisonment, instead of a felony punishable by death.[59] A struggle over the disposal of the cargo then ensued.  A motion by Bidwell to except the cargo from forfeiture was lost, 77 to 39.  Another motion by Bidwell may be considered the crucial vote on the whole bill:  it was an amendment to the forfeiture clause, and read, "Provided, that no person shall be sold as a slave by virtue of this act."[60] This resulted in a tie vote, 60 to 60; but the casting vote of the Speaker, Macon of North Carolina, defeated it.  New England voted solidly in favor of it, the Middle States stood 4 for and 2 against it, and the six Southern States stood solid against it.  On January 8 the bill went again to a select committee of seventeen, by a vote of 76 to 46.  The bill was reported back amended January 20, and on the 28th the Senate bill was also presented to the House.  On the 9th, 10th, and 11th of February both bills were considered in Committee of the Whole, and the Senate bill finally replaced the House bill, after several amendments had been made.[61] The bill was then passed, by a vote of 113 to 5.[62] The Senate agreed to the amendments, including that substituting fine and imprisonment for the death penalty, but asked for a conference on the provision which left the interstate coast-trade free.  The six conferees succeeded in bringing the Houses to agree, by limiting the trade to vessels over forty tons and requiring registry of the slaves.[63]