The Missouri Compromise

1155 Words3 Pages

In 1819 Missouri requested to join the United States as a slave state. This caused the beginning of a division between the people, and offices, of America. This division was a result of the issue of slavery, and a fear that the delicate balance between states that allowed slavery and states that did not allow slavery would be broken. Half of the country believed slavery was fine, and half believed it was wrong. In an attempt to keep peace between the South and the North, the Missouri Compromise was passed. The compromise would allow Missouri to enter the union as a slave state, and Maine as a free state; keeping the number of states pro-slavery and anti-slavery even. However, the compromise did not accomplish everything that congress had hoped. The Missouri Compromise was a poor attempt to end the dispute over slavery in America because it did not please the Southern or Northern states, was unconstitutional, and contributed to the civil war. The Missouri Compromise was an effort to preserve the balance of power between pro-slavery states, and anti-slavery states. At the time when Missouri asked to become a new state, there was eleven states that allowed slavery, and eleven states that did not allow slavery (History.com Staff). If Missouri had joined the union, then the balance would have shifted in favor of pro-slavery states. Northerners argued that congress had a right to ban slavery in a new state, while Southern states argued that new states had just as much right to decide if they wanted to allow slavery as the original thirteen colonies did (History.com Staff). The compromise did two things; first, it allowed Maine to enter as a free state, and Missouri to come in with slaves; second, slavery would be prohibited in the Lo... ... middle of paper ... ...y. Although some people believe that the Missouri Compromise delayed the Civil War, it actually is one of the main causes of the war. This is due to the fact that the Missouri Compromise did not solve the issue of slavery in any way, but merely delayed actually taking care of it. Instead of actually trying to come up with a real solution to the fact that the North and South had such different principles and morals regarding slavery, the compromise just attempted to ignore what the real problems were. Then, the compromise was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 because Kansas and Nebraska decided whether or not to allow slavery by a vote of popular sovereignty, which made the Missouri Compromise void (Researchers). The Kansas-Nebraska Act was the final straw in dividing the country, and causing turmoil over the issue of slavery. If the federal government had

Show More
Related

  • The Missouri Compromise vs. the Nullification Crisis

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ri Compromise allowed different states to be a part of the Union while preserving their socio-economic base. These two divergent views were not sustainable within a union. Jefferson’s statement “[t]his momentous question, like a fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror” was accurate, in that it foreshadowed the disunion of the states. Allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, and others to enter as free states were in fact catalysts for major conflict between Americans who believed in the abolition of slavery. The Missouri Compromise also signaled the occurrence of the nullification doctrine due to conflicts arising from various factions within the Union. The nullification doctrine which allowed states to determine which federal law to abide by defeated the purpose of having a union.

    Read More

  • Sectional Compromises In The 19th Century

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 established the slavery line that allowed slavery below it and forbid slavery above it. It also gave the South another slave state in Missouri and the north a free state in Maine. Although each region gained a state in the Senate, the south benefited most from the acquisition because Missouri was in such a pivotal position in the country, right on the border. Later on with the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, Missouri had a big role in getting Kansas to vote south because many proslavery Missourians crossed the border into Kansas to vote slavery. The Missouri Compromise also helped slavery because the line that was formed to limit slavery had more land below the line than above it. Therefore, slavery was given more land to be slave and therefore more power in the Senate, when the territories became state. In effect, the north got the short end of the stick and the south was given the first hint of being able to push around the north. The interesting thing is, the north agreed to all these provisions that would clearly benefit the south.

    Read More

  • The Differences between the North and South on the Eve of the Civil War

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    The North always looked at the South with antipathy and kept trying to abolish slavery, but the South didn’t like the North interfering and wanted to continue the use of slavery. The Missouri compromise was another issue between the North and the South. Missouri was a territory state, and it opted to be in the Union in 1818. There was a proposal to ban Slavery in Missouri, even though there were more than 2000 slaves living there, in desperation, Missouri asked for help from the South. Maine was another territory that had petitioned to enter the union, so in 1820 a compromise was set and Missouri was allowed to stay a slave state, and Maine was declared a free state.

    Read More

  • Thomas Jefferson's Response To The Missouri Compromise

    2270 Words  | 5 Pages

    Western expansion and the Louisiana Purchase both led to the formation of the Missouri Compromise because more states started applying for statehood, and this distorted the balance between the slave and free states. Division between the North and South increased as a result of the Missouri Compromise. It created a line that separated the Union and set it to the path of Civil War. At first, the North and South saw the compromise as a successful document that maintained the balance between the number of slave and free states; however, when the Union gained more territory through Mexican War, Congress decided to modify the existing compromise. Finally, the repeal of the compromise made the final push that led to the explosion of animosity between the North and South, which led to the Civil War. Slavery in the new territories remained the main issue that caused the necessity of forming the Missouri Compromise. Jefferson accurately stated that the Missouri Compromise stood only as a temporary solution that eventually led to the full-fledged sectional war between

    Read More

  • The Monroe Doctrine Was A Bold Statement Of American Foreign Policy

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    This deal was one of the reasons why the Civil War happened. The Missouri Compromise was a deal between the north and south to allow Missouri into the Union as a slave state, while Maine came in as a free state. This deal made for a foreboding civil war between the North and the South. This deal was a big mistake, as the north and south grew closer to a civil war. The Missouri Compromise was one of the biggest mistakes in American history.

    Read More

  • The Sectionalism of the 19th Century

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Missouri Compromise acted as a balancing act among the anti-slave states and the slave states. Since states generally entered the union in pairs, it stat...

    Read More

  • The Civil War: The Path to Disunion

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1819, Missouri wanted to join the Union, although in the North, as a slave state. In would make the balance of power in the Congress unequal.

    Read More

  • The Differences Between North And South

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    Additionally, the majority of states had conflicts between slavery in their territory, one of them dealt with missouri. Missouri applied for admission into the Union as a slave state; this became a problem because missouri ruined the balance for free slaves and slave states. The northern states wanted to ban slavery from occurring in missouri because the unbalanced situation it put towards the other states. In response, the southern states declared how congress doesn’t have the power to ban slavery in missouri. However, Henry Clay offers a solution, the missouri compromise of 1820. Missouri admitted as slave state and Maine becomes a free slave state. Slavery is banned in Louisiana creating a 36 30 line in missouri’s southern border; this maintained the balance in the U.S senate.

    Read More

  • The Compromise of 1850

    385 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a great victory for the south. The greatest benefit to the south was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which established the sacred 36-30 line. If the Missouri Compromise had stayed in place, there would have been no more possibility for the expansion of slavery, since there was no land left south of the 36-30 line; under the Missouri Compromise southern expansion was hampered by the existence of the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of the line being repealed, it was possible for slavery to exist in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska because of popular sovereignty.

    Read More

  • The Missouri Compromise

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1820 Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state. As this would ruin the balance between Slave states and Free states in the Senate, Henry Clay proposed the Missouri compromise. This arranged it that while Missouri was admitted as a Slave state, Maine was also admitted as a free state. It also created an imaginary line along the 36o latitude, where slavery was allowed below it but prevented above it. However they limited themselves by only applying the Compromise to lands gained in the Louisiana purchase. This led to conflict after the Mexican war in which America gained new territories in the West. This doomed the Missouri Compromise, which was probably the most promising of the three. Had the Compromise been applied to all American lands then perhaps it could have succeeded. Instead the Missouri Compromise failed and only led to further conflict between north and south in the future.

    Read More

  • The Civil War Was Inevitable

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... The Civil War that was tamed after the Missouri Compromise of 1820 finally broke out. After four years of fighting, the war was over and the Union won. There were many events, laws, and people that provoked the Civil War.

    Read More

  • Summary And Slavery: The Causes Of The Missouri Compromise

    672 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tempers raged and arguments started because of the Missouri Compromise. The simple act caused many fatal events because of what was changed within the United States. It may not seem like a big thing now, but before slavery had been abolished, the topic of slavery was an idea that could set off fights. The Missouri Compromise all started in late in 1819 when the Missouri Territory applied to the Union to become a slave state. The problem Congress had with accepting Missouri as a slave state was the new uneven count of free states and slave states. With proslavery states and antislavery states already getting into arguments, having a dominant number of either slave or free states would just ignite the flame even more. Many representatives from the north, such as James Tallmadge of New York, had already tried to pass another amendment that would abolish slavery everywhere. Along with other tries to eliminate slavery, his effort was soon shot down. The fact that people couldn’t agree on whether or not slavery should be legalized made trying to compose and pass a law nearly impossible.

    Read More

  • The Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850

    637 Words  | 2 Pages

    Their main aim was not to stop slavery because it was inhumane, but the fact that white people were becoming unemployed and the south were becoming more powerful. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a debatable decision for the north and the south. A decision on whether or not Missouri should come in as a slave state. In Congress, those on the side of the north, found out that Missouri was going to be placed as a slave state and were dramatically upset. They were upset due to the fact that it would cause an unbalance.

    Read More

  • What Were the Key Issues Leading To the Civil War?

    2033 Words  | 5 Pages

    As the country began to grow and expand we continued to see disagreements between the North and South; the Missouri Territory applied for statehood; the South wanted them admitted as a slave state and the North as a free state. Henry Clay eventually came up with the Missouri Compromise, making Missouri a slave state and making Maine it’s own state, entering the union as a free state. After this compromise, any state admitted to the union south of the 36° 30’ latitude would be a slave state and a state north of it would be free. The country was very much sectionalized during this time. Thomas Jefferson felt this was a threat to the Union.

    Read More

  • The Compromises of the Founding Fathers in Founding Brothers byJoseph J. Ellis

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Founding Fathers were a revolutionary group, diverse in personalities and ideologies but shared the common goal of American liberty. They understood that the citizens should have a say in their government, and the government only obtains its power from the citizen’s consent. In order to avoid endless debates on issues that needed to be solved immediately, the revolutionary leaders compromised their beliefs. Joseph J. Ellis writes of the compromises that changed the constitutional debate into the creation of political parties in, The Founding Brothers. The 3 main chapters that show cased The Founding Brothers’ compromises are The Dinner, The Silence, and The Collaborators.

    Read More

More about The Missouri Compromise

Open Document