Learn Our History Learn Our History Today: On March 3, 1820, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise, temporarily pacifying the United States’ first battle between slavery and anti-slavery politicians. The trouble had started when a bill was placed before Congress with the purpose of admitting Missouri into the Union as a free-state, essentially a state where slavery is prohibited. Congressmen from the southern states knew that this would upset the precarious balance of power that currently existed in Congress. At the time, 11 states of the Union allowed slaves and 11 states prohibited them. Other opposition to the bill came from people and Congressmen who thought it unconstitutional to prohibit slavery in a territory that actually favored slavery. Congress was deadlocked for many months over the issue, but finally a compromise was reached. Missouri would be admitted to the Union as a slave state, Maine which was formerly part of Massachusetts would be admitted as a free state, and in the future, new states would only be allowed to have slaves if they were below the 36th parallel. The Missouri Compromise preserved the balance of power for more than 30 years until it was finally repealed in 1854 with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed for popular vote to decide whether or not a state would be free or slave.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 02:57:43 +0000
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