Most significantly, the version of the Ordinance of 1784 that Jefferson supported banned the expansion of slavery into the new territories.51 The plan failed by a single vote in the Congress (a delegate from New Jersey was too ill to attend, dooming the bill).52,53 Reflecting on the closeness of the decision, Jefferson wrote: “Thus we see the fate of millions unborn hanging on the tongue of one man, and heaven was silent in that awful moment.”
