Missouri Compromise 1820 Glossary Words Compromise an agreement

Missouri Compromise 1820

Glossary Words Compromise: an agreement in which both sides in an argument agree to give up something they want in order to reach an agreement. The Union: The United States as one country under one government. During the Civil War, the Union came to mean the government and armies of the North. Secession: the act of withdrawing or leaving an alliance; like the southern states leaving the Union Fugitive: someone who flees or tries to escape (for example, from slavery) Civil War: a war fought between the people of a single country

Confronting the Issue of Slavery…. • Congress had established a process forming new states in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which banned slavery north of the Ohio River. • Using this, the United states was able to maintain a balance between free states and slave states. • When Missouri wanted to enter the union as a slave state, it raised two questions. • If most of Missouri lay north of where slavery had been banned east of the Mississippi, shouldn’t it be banned on the west side of the Mississippi too? • If Missouri is allowed to enter the Union as a slave state, what keeps slavery from spreading all across the Louisiana Purchase Territory?

A compromise is reached… • Congress began to fight over Missouri becoming a slave state, and southerners threatened secession. • Henry Clay stepped in with a compromise to maintain balance between slave and free states. 1. Missouri would enter the union as a slave state. 2. Maine would enter the union as a free state, preserving the balance of power. 3. Congress drew an imaginary line at the 36 -30 th latitude. North of the line, slavery would be banned, south of the line, slavery was permitted. • In the end, the Missouri Compromise kept the country together, but no one was really happy. The problem of slavery was just pushed into the future.