The language of the first article of Mr. Henderson's proposition read: "Slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, shall not exist in the United States." When it came back from the Judiciary Committee, as reported by Mr. Trumbull, it was called Article XIII., and read: "Sec. 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall {27} exist in the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Sec. 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." [Sidenote: The proposition of amendment as it came from the Judiciary Committee of the Senate.] It will be advantageous in our further consideration of this article to recall briefly the reasons for these divergencies. The language used by the Judiciary Committee corresponds almost exactly with the wording of the ordinance of the Northwest Territory of 1787; and it is entirely evident that the Judiciary Committee had that act in mind when it reported the article. Mr. Henderson's proposition was that slavery or involuntary servitude should not exist in the _United States_. He well understood that it did not require a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery from those parts of the country where "States" had not been formed. He knew that Congress could do that. The Judiciary Committee, however, did not think it wise or necessary to "make two bites of a cherry." They preferred to make their prohibition apply to the whole country. They knew that the phrase _United States_ was capable of being interpreted to mean only that part of the country where "States" existed, and they preferred and intended to make their prohibition of slavery extend to the whole country. From abundant caution they used the words United States, with the additional words "any place subject to their jurisdiction," in order to cover all territory over which the flag of the Union should fly in sovereign power.