<P> Radical Republicans led by Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner and Pennsylvania Representative Thaddeus Stevens sought a more expansive version of the amendment . On February 8, 1864, Sumner submitted a constitutional amendment stating: </P> <P> All persons are equal before the law, so that no person can hold another as a slave; and the Congress shall have power to make all laws necessary and proper to carry this declaration into effect everywhere in the United States . </P> <P> Sumner tried to promote his own more expansive wording by circumventing the Trumbull - controlled Judiciary Committee, but failed . On February 10, the Senate Judiciary Committee presented the Senate with an amendment proposal based on drafts of Ashley, Wilson and Henderson . </P> <P> The Committee's version used text from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which stipulates, "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ." Though using Henderson's proposed amendment as the basis for its new draft, the Judiciary Committee removed language that would have allowed a constitutional amendment to be adopted with only a majority vote in each House of Congress and ratification by two - thirds of the states (instead of two - thirds and three - fourths, respectively). </P>

Who was president when the 6th amendment was ratified