The Missouri Compromise

Another was the economy which depended on slavery because of cheap labor, but The North was depended on trading and factories. This eliminated the fight between the North and South by Three-Fifths Compromise. In 1783 the Constitution convention proposed that a tax should be a portion of the population, it had come again slave issue not paying taxes equally. It was a great solution to add on to Three-Fifths Compromise. Commerce Compromise was over, the government that Congress makes the rules and regulation between the Northern and Southern States in 1787.

Gracie Evans Ms. Stader APUSH 14 November 2017 In the early years of the Antebellum era, or pre-war period, compromise was essential. Despite tensions between the North and South caused by things like Uncle Tom’s Cabin of 1852 (Robbins), arguments over states rights, and rumours of southern secession, it seemed like compromise was always possible. The main turning point for this was in 1854.

Prior to the events of Bleeding Kansas that begun in 1854, the United States followed a strict policy of compromise in regards to it’s political decisions. Being a relatively newly founded country a great deal of care was given towards pleasing the citizens of the United States, through compromise, in order to maintain a stable society. This is specifically evident in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and the Compromise of 1850. These events helped to maintain the stability of American society for a time. However, as the nation developed further there became apparent divides on many matters, but mainly over slavery.

The North, which were anti-slavery, argued that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in the new state. Meanwhile, the South,which were pro-slavery, believed that states, rather than the government, should have the right to decide whether they wanted slavery or not therefore they argued that the State of Missouri had the right to decide whether they wanted to be a slave state or not and that it should not be up to the Congress to decide. In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise which allowed Missouri to be a slave state and allowed Maine into the Union as a free state to resolve crisis, which a member of Congress, Henry Clay, offered. The history surrounding the nineteenth century led to the establishment of the Missouri

When in 1850 the California Territory asked to be admitted as a free state into the Union, many southerners opposed the request because they feared that that new admission would have upset the sectional balance in the Congress between free state representatives and slave state representatives. The Senator Henry Clay proposed a series of law later called under the common name of Compromise of 1850. According to these laws, California would be admitted into the Union as free slave; to balance it there would be created two new slave states, Utah and New Mexico, where slavery had to be determined by popular sovereignty; slavery in Washington D.C. would be ended; and finally the issuing of the Fugitive Slave Act that made easier for the southern to recover fugitive slaves. Even though the Compromise of 1850 acted as a temporary solution, later in time it resulted in further severe problems as the Bleeding Kansas in 1854, where pro-slavery citizens and anti-slavery citizens quarrelsome produced a sort of small civil

The Compromise of 1820 was caused by Missouri wanting to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. This would have caused an imbalance between slave states and free states in Congress. So, the free states, the North, opposed Missouri being a slave state. The compromise was possible because there was also the admittance of Maine to the Union as a free state, so Missouri could be a slave state without disrupting the balance in Congress. There was also the 36°30' line that started from Missouri.

The Compromise of 1850 done what it set out to do, it kept the nation united, but the solution was only for a little while. Over the following decade the country's citizens became further separated over the issue of

There was a conflict between the states when the new territory Kansas went against the Missouri Compromise. The Compromise stated that There could be no slavery beyond the latitude of 36 degrees and 30 degrees. In 1854 Kansas broke out into a fight under the doctrine of popular sovereignty which means the people of Kansas can choose if they want to be a free state or a slave state. Under those terms, Pro-slavery parties and Antislavery parties clashed for whether Kansas becomes the state of the South or of the

During the early part of the 1800's, the Northern states banned the buying, trading, and use of slaves. They also advocated to get rid of slavery in the entire country. The Southern states had been using slaves to run their economy since their founding, as they did not have access to the plentiful natural resources found to the North. This caused a major conflict for Congress and our country, who all sensed a civil war would come if nothing was done about it. Then, in an attempt to make both sides happy for as long as possible, Senator Henry Clay proposed his idea for the Compromise of 1850.

On March 3, 1820 the congress passed a bill which was revolutionary for its time. The idea of slavery in the new lands acquired by the Louisiana purchase was beginning to scare the North, and excite the South. The Northern states were worried the balance in the senate would be thrown off because many of these new territories would be occupied by slave owning farmers, and likely become a slave state. To solve this issue, the Northern and Southern representatives compromised, and drew a line at 36 degrees, 30 minutes. With this line came the addition of Missouri as a slave state, and Maine as a free state.

Following the Mexican-American War, America had gained the Utah and New Mexico territories as well as California from the Bear Flag Revolt. The onset of Manifest Destiny occurred faster than ever before, with territories vying to become full US states. Northerners fought to stop the expansion of slavery, whereas Southerners argued for the opposite. Over the 20 years since Clay’s last compromise, sectional divisions grew worse than ever before seen in the country. Still not having decided his opinion on the issue of slavery, Clay saw how important it was to compromise.

The U.S was only able to settle political disputes through compromise until 1860 because of the increasing sectionalism, the Abolitionist Movement and the Secession of South Carolina. New states joined into congress creating an unbalanced senate forcing congress to make decisions to balance the nation between freedom and slavery. The Missouri Compromise failed as an attempt to maintain peace between the North and South because it created an greater sense of sectionalism throughout the country. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a decision to make Missouri a slave state to maintain an even number of free and slave states. It led to uproar in congress and the North retaliated by declaring the rest of the Louisiana territory to be free.

The early to mid-nineteenth century was headlined by sectionalism, which ultimately led to the American Civil War. Some of the events and issues within that time period that led to that major event include abolitionism, sectionalism, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the election of 1860. Before the 1820s, abolitionism was more of a regional issue than a national issue. During the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century, many states in the North began implementing gradual emancipation laws which caused slavery in those states to become nonexistent within a few decades. The issue of abolitionism started to attract national attention in the early 1830s during the Second Great Awakening.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an attempt by Congress to ease some of the political rivalries between the North and the South (history.com 2009). The compromise stated the fact that all states up north would not have slavery and all states south would allow and continue the act of slavery (history.com 2009). It went both ways since it split the country up evenly between slave and free. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was handwritten by Henry Clay in 1820 (ancestralfindings.com 1995). On March 6th of 1820, President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise and made it the new law of the land (loc.gov 2017).

There were many important Compromises between the years of 1820 and 1860, some that worked completely and some that didn’t. In the early nineteenth century, people were good at compromising and making things work for everyone. How long did perfect compromising actually last? Slavery began to split the nation apart, causing compromising to become hard to do.