Maine and the Missouri Compromise

Slavery was a hot topic as early as the 1770s between those Americans for and against it. The abolition of slavery west of the Ohio River along with the 13th Amendment put a gradual end to the slavery practice in the North after the 1780s. The end of chattel slavery came about in 1808 in the United States of America, but the whole sale of Black slaves still existed.

Slavery Becomes A Territorial Hot Topic

Later as territories lobbied to become American states, the question of whether a territory would become a free or slave state became a hot topic. Sometime, it came to major conflicts such as what happened in Kansas before the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. In the case of Maine, that state was affected by what would happen in Missouri.

What was the Missouri Compromise?

The Missouri Compromise was an agreement between supporters for and against slavery. In 1820, it prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory except inside the border lines of the anticipated state of Missouri. At first, the U.S. House of Representatives refused to agree to this compromise which resulted in a conference committee being appointed.

In the Missouri Territory, a bill enabled people to draft a form of government preliminary for admission into the Union along with a state constitution draft. On February 13, 1819, the U.S House of Representatives in the Committee of the Whole would decide the fate of the Missouri Territory.

On January 26, 1820, John W. Taylor of New York introduced a bill which would allow Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state. It passed the U.S. House of Representatives and was about to join Alabama, the last territory to become successfully admitted as a slave state just a month prior. Then on January 3, 1820, a bill to push Maine into statehood as a free state would come about.

What the Missouri Compromise Did

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 indirectly influenced the Maine Territory becoming a free state in the Union. But, most of the people who were settling inside the Missouri Territory were from the American South. This affected how Missouri’s fate would be in Washington D.C. So as anticipated, the Missouri Territory became a slave state admitted into the Union. There was much quarrelling in the nation’s capitol over Missouri being admitted a slave state. Thus, New York State Representative James Tallmadge Jr. (1778-1853) would propose an amendment that would eliminate slavery forever in Missouri. The bill was a success in the U.S. House of Representatives, but a failure in the U.S. Senate

The Maine Constitution Passes

 The Maine Constitution was approved unanimously by Maine’s 210 delegates in October 1819 at the Maine Constitutional Convention. U.S. Congress ratified it on March 4, 1820, as a component of the Missouri Compromise. This important compromise would have Maine becoming a free state; meanwhile, Missouri would become a slave state. The Missouri Compromise would act as a balancing scale between Northern and Southern influence in the U.S. Senate.

Maine Becomes a State

Maine would become a state on March 15, 1820. Its first governor would be William King. William D. Williamson would act as the first President of the Maine State Senate.

Notes:

Robert P. Forbes (Author). The Missouri Compromise and Its Aftermath: Slavery and the Meaning of America. The University of North Carolina Press (August 15, 2009) (Publisher). ISBN-10: 0807861839