Missouri Compromise
The acceptance of the new Western territories as part of the United States raised the issue of slavery as a sticky issue in the politics of the nation. The concept of catering for the interest of the slaves and the pressure groups that wanted the practice banned as well as the interests of those states that wanted their rights to choose to do whatever they wanted with their slaves was a tricky concept. It became more pronounced when Missouri presented a petition to join the U.S. But as a slave state. By 1819 there were 11 free and 11 slave states hence striking a balance yet Missouri wanted to come in as a slave state which would tilt the balance if accepted. Congressman Tallmadge James gave a proposal that Missouri be allowed to the U.S. But as a Free State and not slave state. The pro-slavery states did not like the idea and termed it unfair to disallow Missouri to decide what it wanted a fact that would make Missouri have less rights than the other states. This is when Henry Clay came up with a two-part solution that he helped broker and became famously known as the Missouri compromise.
Part 1 indicated that Missouri would be admitted...
To balance this, Clay proposed the admission of Maine which was a free state and had all along petitioned to join the Union so that it is separate from Massachusetts which was a slave state, this would see a balance in the number once more.
Part 2, indicated that in the Louisiana Purchase that would take place anywhere north of the southern borderline of Missouri would be free states. Despite the fact that people from both sides of the divide saw the compromise as inconsistent, it lasted for more than 30 years until a later significant historical development known as Kensas-Nebraska Act of 1854 (U.S. History, 2013). Individuals like John J. Crittenden insisted on a constitutional amendment that would see the watering down of the Missouri treaty to extend the Missouri compromise line into the Pacific Ocean. Practically, this was seen as a roll back in the gains and needs of the North and adopting it would indicate that the North was bowing to the pressures from the South secession and further legalizing slavery in the South and extending it further than it had been restricted by this treaty (Allen C. Guelzo,…
