Pros And Cons Of The Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise was a law passed in 1820 to allow Missouri, a slave owning state, and Maine, a free state, to become a part of the United States. This law had prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory, with Missouri as an exception. This law was deemed necessary by the North in order to preserve the unstable balance between the Free and Slave states. Though this does not seem like it would affect history that much, aside from adding to the land of the U.S., this law, or rather the repeal of this law, would only cause the North and South to drift further apart causing a feud that would eventually lead up to the Civil War. In 1817, the Territory of Missouri applied for statehood, which was considered by Congress in 1819. However, because it was a slave owning territory, Missouri wanted to go into the United States as a Slave-owning

Unlike the Tallmadge amendment, which was only in favor of the North’s morals and concerns and only created by a Northerner, the Missouri Compromise had benefits for both the Northern states and the Southern states. For the Northern states, it had brought in another free-state and had still restricted the growth of slavery by banning it in the Louisiana Purchase north of Missouri. The South, instead of getting a non-slave state and more votes in favor of the North, they received a slave state and more land for more profit as well as a seat in the House of Representatives . Other than those specifics, the rest of the Missouri Compromise consists of things that treat Missouri on equal footing with the other states, as opposed to treating them as if they were less than a state with more limits to their statehood, unlike the other states. After the Missouri Crisis was settled, the balance between the North and South went relatively smooth until the Kansas-Nebraska Act was presented, resulting in the repeal of the Missouri