What led up to the event: With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States purchased approximately 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby, doubling the size of the young republic. What was known as Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east, to the Rocky Mountains in the west, and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south, to the Canadian border in the north. Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the land deal, which is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency. The Louisiana Purchase had added vast new territories to the U.S.A., and a decision had to be made about which territories would be slave-states and which would be free-states. When the Missouri territory came up for admission, Congress ruled that it could be a slave-state, on condition that there were no more slave-states North of the parallel that marked Missouri's Southern border. This “line in the sand” kept the peace for thirty years. 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 orchestrated 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 negated by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
The Event: For the first two decades of the 19th century, many new states joined the Union without issue. But bitter debate ensued when Missouri applied for statehood in 1819. The issue was partly the balance of power in the Senate and partly whether Congress had the right to override the will of the people in a state. Henry Clay proposed the Missouri Compromise: add Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state; then, draw a line at 36°30' as the slave border for all new states out of the territory. He hoped this would put an end to the slavery issue, but men like Thomas Jefferson correctly predicted that this would not truly solve the problem. After Missouri was added in 1821, no new states joined the Union for another 15 years, and after that, only in pairs. Politics became a sectional, rather than partisan, fight. The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries, triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. Admission of Missouri as a slave state would upset that balance; it would also set a precedent for congressional acquiescence in the expansion of slavery. Earlier in 1819, when Missouri was being organized as a territory, Representative James Tallmadge of New York had proposed an amendment that would ultimately have ended slavery there; this effort was defeated, as was a similar effort by Representative John Taylor of New York regarding Arkansas Territory.The extraordinarily bitter debate over Missouri’s application for admission ran from December 1819 to March 1820. Northerners, led by Senator Rufus King of New York, argued that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in a new state. Southerners like Senator William Pinkney of Maryland held that new states had the same freedom of action, as the original thirteen and were thus free to choose slavery if they wished. After the Senate and the House passed different bills and deadlock threatened, a compromise bill was worked out with the following provisions: (1) Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) as free, and (2) except for Missouri, slavery was to be excluded from the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30′. The Missouri Compromise was criticized by many southerners because it established the principle that Congress could make laws regarding slavery; northerners, on the other hand, condemned it for acquiescing in the expansion of slavery (though only south of the compromise line). Nevertheless, the act helped hold the Union together for more than thirty years. It was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which established popular sovereignty (local choice) regarding slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, though both were north of the compromise line. Three years later, the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, on the ground that Congress was prohibited by the Fifth Amendment from depriving individuals of private property without due process of law.
The Impact: The underlying issue was slavery and sectional balance. If Missouri was admitted as a slave state, then the number of slave states would outnumber the free states, giving slave states the balance of power in the Senate (which provides two senators per state, regardless of population.) So, the short term effect of the Missouri Compromise was that Missouri (slave state) and Maine (free state) became states. Also, slavery was banned in territories north of parallel 36°30', except for Missouri. The long-term effect was the division of the country into North and South sections, which defined the subsequent battles over slavery and the Civil War. The actual impact of the banning of slavery north of parallel 36°30' was nullified by the Supreme Court during the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress could not restrict slavery in this manner, and that slaves or descendents of former slaves weren't U.S. citizens. The final resolution of the underlying cause (slavery) was the Civil War. At war's end, slavery was made illegal in the United States. This compromise is what would determine where slavery would be allowed and where it wouldn’t in the new territory of Missouri and the old territory, this pleased neither side and led to violence. It started the wheels in motion for the Civil War.
The Event: For the first two decades of the 19th century, many new states joined the Union without issue. But bitter debate ensued when Missouri applied for statehood in 1819. The issue was partly the balance of power in the Senate and partly whether Congress had the right to override the will of the people in a state. Henry Clay proposed the Missouri Compromise: add Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state; then, draw a line at 36°30' as the slave border for all new states out of the territory. He hoped this would put an end to the slavery issue, but men like Thomas Jefferson correctly predicted that this would not truly solve the problem. After Missouri was added in 1821, no new states joined the Union for another 15 years, and after that, only in pairs. Politics became a sectional, rather than partisan, fight. The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries, triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. Admission of Missouri as a slave state would upset that balance; it would also set a precedent for congressional acquiescence in the expansion of slavery. Earlier in 1819, when Missouri was being organized as a territory, Representative James Tallmadge of New York had proposed an amendment that would ultimately have ended slavery there; this effort was defeated, as was a similar effort by Representative John Taylor of New York regarding Arkansas Territory.The extraordinarily bitter debate over Missouri’s application for admission ran from December 1819 to March 1820. Northerners, led by Senator Rufus King of New York, argued that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in a new state. Southerners like Senator William Pinkney of Maryland held that new states had the same freedom of action, as the original thirteen and were thus free to choose slavery if they wished. After the Senate and the House passed different bills and deadlock threatened, a compromise bill was worked out with the following provisions: (1) Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) as free, and (2) except for Missouri, slavery was to be excluded from the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30′. The Missouri Compromise was criticized by many southerners because it established the principle that Congress could make laws regarding slavery; northerners, on the other hand, condemned it for acquiescing in the expansion of slavery (though only south of the compromise line). Nevertheless, the act helped hold the Union together for more than thirty years. It was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which established popular sovereignty (local choice) regarding slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, though both were north of the compromise line. Three years later, the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, on the ground that Congress was prohibited by the Fifth Amendment from depriving individuals of private property without due process of law.
The Impact: The underlying issue was slavery and sectional balance. If Missouri was admitted as a slave state, then the number of slave states would outnumber the free states, giving slave states the balance of power in the Senate (which provides two senators per state, regardless of population.) So, the short term effect of the Missouri Compromise was that Missouri (slave state) and Maine (free state) became states. Also, slavery was banned in territories north of parallel 36°30', except for Missouri. The long-term effect was the division of the country into North and South sections, which defined the subsequent battles over slavery and the Civil War. The actual impact of the banning of slavery north of parallel 36°30' was nullified by the Supreme Court during the Dred Scott decision, which ruled that Congress could not restrict slavery in this manner, and that slaves or descendents of former slaves weren't U.S. citizens. The final resolution of the underlying cause (slavery) was the Civil War. At war's end, slavery was made illegal in the United States. This compromise is what would determine where slavery would be allowed and where it wouldn’t in the new territory of Missouri and the old territory, this pleased neither side and led to violence. It started the wheels in motion for the Civil War.