The Missouri Compromise And Events Leading Up Of The Civil War Essay

The purpose of the Missouri Compromise was to try to keep Congress balanced with slave and free states. Two states were added: Missouri was a slave state and Maine was a free state. The Missouri Compromise also stated that the latitude line 36 30 was the line where slavery stopped.

However, to balance out the political power, Maine, who had wanted to be its own state for some time now, would be added as a free state. The second part of the compromise was that an imaginary line would be drawn along the southern border of Missouri. This imaginary line would become the dividing line between free and slave states in the North and South and be known as the 36° 30° line.

Sectional differences between the North and the South have caused the two regions to disagree on multiple issues since the establishment of the United States. The North’s economy was primarily based on industry, while the South’s economy was primarily based on agriculture, which greatly changed the two section’s desire and need for slaves. When the United States began annexing new territory, disputes over the expansion of slavery became prominent. In the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Missouri was added to the Union as a slave state while Maine was added as a free state in order to maintain the balance between slave and free states, and slavery was prevented from extending above the 36th parallel line. In order to follow the guidelines of the Missouri Compromise, Southerners looked westward in order to expand slavery. Southerners supported the extension of slavery into western territories because it allowed them to use free labor to harvest cotton and other crops, and the addition of new slave states would strengthen the South in the House of Representatives, because more states would vote for policies that favored slaveholders. Northerners were against the expansion of slavery into Western territories because they believed slave labor undermined free white labor and took away job opportunities, and would disrupt the balance between free and slave states. Controversy over the expansion of slavery into western territories between the years of 1845-1861 contributed to the

At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. In the years leading up to the Missouri Compromise of 1820, tensions began to rise between proslavery and antislavery factions within the U.S. Congress and across the country. They reached a boiling point after Missouri’s 1819 request for admission to the Union as a slave state, which threatened to upset the delicate balance between slave states and free states. To keep the peace, Congress came up with a two-part compromise, granting Missouri’s request but also admitting Maine as a free state. It also passed an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory, establishing a boundary between free and slave regions that remained the law of the land until it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

The Missouri Compromise stated Missouri would be a slave state and Maine would be carved out of Massachusetts and created into a non-slave state. The Missouri Compromise really angered the North, contributing to the Civil War.

In 1819, two more states wishing to join the union, were Missouri and Maine. Missouri wanted to join the union in the in the north, but as a slave state. this would make the balance of power in congress unequal. Many northerners opposed this idea. Northerners proposed that Missouri be a slave state and that no more slaves were to be brought in, and all slave children would be free at age 25. Eventually Missouri would be a free state. Southerners were opposed to this idea. Congress debated for months. This brought about the Missouri Compromise of 1820, when Henry Clay proposed that Maine enter the union as a free state. He also proposed prohibiting slavery above the 36’30’ latitude, which is the southern boundary of Missouri. Since plantations would not be able to survive further north of this line, the South agreed.

The Missouri Compromise was a temporary solution to the issue of slavery and territorial rights such as the movement West. Two areas of land wanted to become states in 1820, known as Maine and Missouri. Maine wanted to enter as a free state with no slavery as everyone in that area was against it and wanted it abolished. Missouri wanted to enter as a slave state and was all for slavery and wanted it to be spread all throughout the country. The compromise everyone came into conclusion with, was that there would be no slavery allowed north of 36° 30’ latitude. This angered the Southerners because their intention was to promote slavery not have it abolished. They realized that this compromise threatened the balance between free and slave states; Maine and Missouri. In order to expand slavery, the South felt that the United States would need territory from Mexico. The only area of land left was in Arkansas and that line became known as the Missouri Compromise line. The impact that the Missouri Compromise had on the United States was tremendous and had many effects on issues such as national politics, the institution of slavery, and the overall togetherness of the nation as a whole.

Since Missouri’s population was composed of 16 percent slaves, it would be admitted as a slave state therefore upsetting the balance in favor of the south. Northerners didn’t like this because Missouri was at the same latitude as the free states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and because of this they feared that it would set a precedent for slave states coming more north. The north and south continued to argue and argue over the issue of slavery. The north accused the south of trying to extend the institution of slavery and the south said that the north was conspiring to destroy the Union and end slavery. To resolve this crisis, congress passed a series of agreements that became known as the Missouri Compromise, which smoothed over the crisis. In 1820, Congress admitted Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state in order to balance the number of free and slave states and to keep order between the north and south. Also, it prohibited slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of the southern boundary of Missouri. This compromise soon fell apart after it was passed. Missouri drafted its own Constitution saying that free blacks were prohibited from entering their territory. Because of this provision, which was against the federal Constitution stating that citizens of one state were entitled to the same rights as citizens of other states, antislavery northerners

The Missouri Compromise was only important for preserving the Union for that small period of time. This is evident through the fact that the Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Law, and other debates occurred even after the Missouri Compromise. Many Americans agreed that slavery would be the issue that led the United States to a civil war and the Missouri Compromise was one of many events that delayed the war.

The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to keep the delicate balance between the slave and free states that would have been upset by the addition of Missouri as a slave state. After a tedious back and forth between the free and slave states, Henry Clay, speaker of the house at the time, orchestrated the missouri compromise in March 1820. The compromise stated that congress would not restrict the admission of Missouri as a slave state but as a result Maine would be added as a free state. Northerners also wanted a prohibition of slavery in the remaining territory of the louisiana purchase north of 36° 30´ latitude line. The compromise was important because it put off the dreaded debate of slavery, albeit not for long. The compromise

The Missouri Compromise caused some of the biggest conflicts in United States history. One of the biggest conflicts caused by the Missouri Compromise was the Civil War. The Missouri Compromise was passed forty-one years before the Civil War happened. It caused the disagreement between the north, the anti-slavery, and the south, the pro-slavery in the United States on the issue of slavery. The north did not like slavery and the south did. The Missouri Compromise was written by Henry Clay and both people who promote slavery and people who are against slavery agreed to it in Congress. The Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 agreeing to Missouri to be a slave state and Maine as a free state. It also banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory north from the latitude line which was thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes. The compromise stayed a law until it was canceled by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The

The Missouri Compromise was an effective temporally political compromise in reducing sectional tensions prior to the Civil War because it preserved a balance between the Northern and Southern states. In 1819, United States concluded with an equal number eleven slave and free states. However, settlers petitioned for Missouri as a slave state for its large population and became the first state to apply that was completely from the Louisiana purchase. Many opposed of Missouri as a free state due to the imbalance of states. This was resolved by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine

After the Missouri Compromise was made, more conflict arose. New territories were beginning to fight over the issue of slavery. These territories included Texas, New Mexico, and California. After James Polk became president he annexed Texas, and it became a state. This was a cause of the Civil War because it caused was the war with Mexico, which as a result led to the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise of 1850 made Northerners help catch runaway slaves. The South loved it, but the North hated it. Once again the North and South were spreading apart.

Western expansion soon led to conflict when Missouri requested statehood. At the time slave states in the South and free states in the North were politically balanced at eleven states each. Missouri’s admission as a slave state would upset the delicate balance of power, giving slave states the majority in congress. This upset Northerners who had grown increasingly opposed to the institution of slavery. The Missouri compromise was made in 1820 to prevent further conflict. In this compromise, Missouri would be admitted to the union as a slave state and Maine would be admitted as a free state.

Southerners believes that if the United States could forbid slavery in Missouri, they could do so elsewhere. It 1820 congress finally agreed that slavery would be allowed in Missouri, but at the same time Maine would be carved out and admitted to the union as a free state. They also agreed that as the United States Expanded westward, states north of the 36 and a half degrees North would be free states, while states south of that would be slave states. This angered the north because under the compromise the new slave states covered more land than that of the new free states. Northerners worried that another slave state might increase the power of the southern states in the government.