The Missouri Compromise

This debate helped expose the fact that slavery was severely dividing the North and the South.  After several proposed compromises, Congress eventually passed the Missouri Compromise to regulate which states would allow slavery.  The Missouri Compromise had great effect on the issue of slavery and took America one step closer to the Civil War.

In 1819, there were 11 free states and 11 slave states.  This balanced the Senate 22 to 22 (Eisert).  Then Missouri applied for statehood.  Because 10,000 out of 60,000 inhabitants of Missouri were slaves, Missouri was expected to be a slave state.  Northerners were terribly frightened by this idea because many were unequivocally opposed to slavery.  A new slave state would tip the balance of the senate in favor of the South.  Slave states would have full control over the senate with this slight majority.  Southerners were greatly excited by this idea.  They practiced and supported slavery, and they depended on it for the cotton industry, which was the South’s main source of income.  A South-controlled senate would bring nationwide slavery closer to a reality.  It all depended on whether or not Missouri would be admitted as a state (Appleby 391, 397, 437).  The disagreement over this issue provided great evidence to the United States that slavery was dividing the North and the South.

Because of this division, the American people knew that something had to be done.  Several people proposed compromises to the conflict.  For example, James Tallmadge proposed that the slavery in Missouri could continue with the exception that Negros born in Missouri would not be slaves past the age of 25.  This proposal passed in the House of Representatives but failed to pass in the Senate (Blaine).  John W. Taylor also made a proposal that was in higher favor of antislavery.  He proposed that slavery continue in Missouri, but all Negros be born free.  This proposal failed to pass as well (Encyclopedia of American History).  Finally, Henry Clay proposed a solution that passed both houses of Congress and temporarily settled the slavery debate.  In order to resolve the immediate conflict, he proposed that Missouri be admitted as a slave state, and that Maine, then part of Massachusetts, be admitted as a free state, thus retaining the balance in the senate.  In order to resolve any conflict that might arise, Clay proposed that no future state in the Louisiana Territory north of 36°30’ North latitude be a slave state.  This proposal, the Missouri Compromise, was passed in 1820, and Missouri became a state (Appleby 437-438; Merk).  Henry Clay’s compromise temporarily calmed the debate over slavery, yet it was not legal.  In 1857, after many years of questioning the legality of Henry Clay’s plan, the Dred Scott decision answered the questioning and ruled that congress had no right to prohibit slavery in a certain area (Library of Congress).