The Battle Of New Orleans, the last important action on land, concludes war in the field, the British retreating to their shipping. Action continued at sea, the Constitution capturing the Cyane and the Levant off the island of Madeira in February, and in March the American brig Hornet captured the British brig Penguin off the coast of Brazil.

March 3, 1815

Senator Giles of Virginia leaves office.

December 5, 1815

Governor Nicholas of Virginia sends a letter to the House of Delegates regarding proceedings in several states on a series of newly proposed constitutional amendments.

December 6, 1815

Supporting documents for Virginia Governor Nicholas' letter of December 5 are read in the House and ordered to lie on the table.

December 7, 1815

Thomas Ritchie is voted Printer to the Commonwealth of Virginia for 1 year.

Congress awards a contract to print the collected federal laws to Philadelphia publisher Bioren & Duane. In the introduction there is a caveat that the proposed 13th Amendment (the TONA) was, at the time of printing, not yet adopted into the Constitution but it could accumulate the requisite number of ratifications any day. This is noted about 60 pages removed from the text of the proposal itself, which is simply captioned 13th Amendment and immediately follows the 12th Amendment. The two are separated from the main text of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in this printing. At this time, 12 of the 13 necessary states have already ratified the 13th Amendment.

1816

February 16, 1816

Virginia House rejects 7 new constitutional amendments which have been proposed by other states. The original 13th Amendment is not included in the vote. Governor Nicholas orders word of the vote sent to the U.S. Congress members from Virginia, and to the governors of every state.

November 12, 1816

Thomas Ritchie, official Printer to the Commonwealth of Virginia, is ordered henceforth to send 4 copies of the House Journals to every county, 1 copy to every county clerk, and 1 copy to every court in the state. Ritchie is given a non-voting seat in the House, in order to take detailed notes of the Debates.

December 11, 1816

Indiana becomes the 19th state, but is not consulted regarding the pending amendment.

Secretary of War William H. Crawford becomes Secretary of the Treasury, serving under both Presidents Madison and Monroe.

Massachusetts publishes the 13th Amendment

1817

February 15 1817

Authorized by an Act of the Virginia Legislature, the complete revision of the State's laws are entrusted to five of Virginia's most respected lawyers and legal scholars: Judge William Brockenbrough of the Virginia general and circuit courts, Benjamin Watkins Leigh - attorney and prominent Virginia legislator, Robert White, Justice Spencer Roane and Justice John Coalter of the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

March 3, 1817

Timothy Pickering, Representative of Massachusetts, leaves office for the last time.

March 4, 1817

James Monroe begins his term as President of the United States. An attorney from Virginia, he has served in the Revolutionary War, Senator from Virginia in 1790 and Minister to France in 1794. He chooses John Quincy Adams as his Secretary of State.

March 19, 1817

Senator Phillip Reed, who proposed the 13th Amendment, returns to Congress to serve again.

December 10, 1817

Mississippi becomes the 20th state. Prior to that, it had been a territory since 1798. The new state is not consulted on the pending 13th Amendment.

December 31, 1817

U.S. House of Representatives accepts the resolve of Representative Edwards of North Carolina that President Monroe inquire into the ratification status of the 13th Amendment. Congress further resolves, on the suggestion of Representative Johnson from Kentucky, to print the present laws to all the states and territories, but in no more than 6 newspapers.

1818

January, 1818

President Monroe has his Secretary of State ask the governors of Virginia, South Carolina, and Connecticut as to the status of the 13th Amendment in their respective States. The four new States (Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, and Illinois) that were added to the Union between 1810 and 1818 are not included in Monroe's order.

January 7, 1818

A Circular from the journal of John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, is sent to the Governors of the three States they had not received information from. The recently added States of Louisiana, Indiana and Mississippi are not mentioned.

January 22, 1818

Connecticut Secretary of State Thomas Day sends copies of the failure Resolution to Secretary of State John Quincy Adams. There is no note in Adams' records as to whether the original Resolution was ever received, though he now has a copy of it. Adams notes the failure, but does not note whether the result is read to Congress.  [View Table of Notifiations]

January 28, 1818

Mr. Johnson, of the Virginia Senate oversight committee to review enrolled bills, reports to the Senate on the progress, due diligence and consideration, and judicious course to be followed in the revision of the laws of Virginia. [See Report] [Also Legislative Notes]

February 3, 1818

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams sends a two page report to the House of Representatives. Adams states that 12 States have ratified Article XIII, three States have rejected it, and he has no information from South Carolina and Virginia. Adams was only concerned with the seventeen states who had participated in the initial process under Article V of the Constitution. He does not report with regard to Louisiana, Indiana or Mississippi, and clearly, does not consider them a part of the process.

February 4, 1818

Pursuant to a Resolution of the House, James Monroe makes inquiries of ratification of the 13th Amendment by South Carolina and Virginia. "...I transmit to the house a detailed report from the secretary of state, which contains all the information that has been received upon that subject." (CIS U.S. Serial Set Index - Misc. 446 (15-1) ASP038)]

February 6, 1818

President Monroe reports to the House that the Secretary of State Adams has written to the governors of Virginia, Connecticut, and South Carolina to tell them that the proposed Amendment has been ratified by twelve States and rejected by two (New York and Rhode Island), and has asked the governors to notify him of their legislature's position. (House Document No. 76) [View House Journal]

February 27, 1818

A letter is sent from President Monroe to the House of Representatives concerning South Carolina's failure to ratify the 13th Amendment.

February 28, 1818

Secretary of State Adams reports the rejection of the Amendment by South Carolina (House Doc. No. 129). [View House Journal] (It had not been rejected, but tabled with no action taken.)

March 12, 1818

New York fails ratification of the 13th Amendment. 1 more ratification is still required to make the amendment law.

March 21, 1818

A letter from John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State to Charles Buck, states in part, "Upon a return from the Executive of Virginia, for which application has been made by this Dept. it will be known with precision what is the fate of the proposed amendment, and no time will be lost in communicating it to you."

March 24, 1818

Pennsylvania publishes the 13th Amendment in the Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania.

April 25, 1818

The Niles Register, a Baltimore newspaper published by H. Niles of Baltimore, carries an article forwarded by the National Intelligencer. Congress being out of session at that time, Mr. Niles took the opportunity to review much of the congressional business that had taken place prior to the publication date. An article appears stating that, while everyone believed the 13th Amendment had been duly ratified, and although Congress had already printed an edition of the Constitution which included the amendment, South Carolina had failed to ratify, and therefore the amendment was not law after all. No mention is made of Virginia.

December 3, 1818

Illinois becomes the 21st state, but is not consulted regarding the pending 13th amendment.

Congress contracts a Philadelphia printer to make pocket editions of the US Constitution. This printer includes the original 13th Amendment. The House passes a resolution asking President Monroe to report back if the TONA has actually been adopted. Monroe passes the project over to his Sec. of State, John Quincy Adams.

1819

January 2, 1819

Thomas Ritchie is elected by both houses of the legislature as Printer to the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is reported that the revision of the laws is proceeding rapidly.

March 3, 1819

Senator Phillip Reed of Maryland leaves office for the second time.

March 6, 1819

Magill brings a bill on the Revised Laws of Virginia before the legislature.

March 10, 1819

The Virginia legislature passes Act No. 280 (Virginia archives of Richmond, "misc." file, p. 299 for micro-film):
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that there shall be published an edition of the Laws of this Commonwealth in which shall be contained the following matters, that is to say; the Constitution of the United States and the amendments thereto. ..." [View Legislative Notes]

March 12, 1819

The Richmond Enquirer, published by Thomas Ritchie, official Printer to the Commonwealth, announces that for the first time, the complete laws of the State of Virginia are available as a compact publication in 2 volumes, edited by B. W. Leigh. The State has ordered 4,000 volumes for the use of its officers, judges and magistrates at a cost of $6 each.

The 13th Amendment's official date of ratification, March 12, 1819, the date of re-publication of the Virginia Civil Code: 10 copies are designated for the executive branch of Virginia, 5 copies for the Clerk of the general assembly, and 4 copies for the Secretary of State of the United States; 1 copy each for Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and President James Monroe; 1 copy each for the U.S. Senate, House, and Library of Congress, and 1 copy for every judge in the courts of Virginia. [View Legislative Notes]
[View Virginia Revised Code of 1819]

Ohio, North Carolina, and Georgia publish the 13th Amendment.

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams reports twice to Congress during the year that not quite enough states have ratified the proposal to accomplish its adoption.

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