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How The Divide Between The North And Southern States During The 1800s

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In the early 1800s, slavery was a controversial political issue between the northern and southern regions of the United States. Political compromises were necessary to prevent the United States from dividing in two as a result of the nation’s disputes over the slavery issue. Conflict and controversy did nothing but increase, and “Americans in all parts of the country realized that a final showdown was approaching” (Smith 19). Thus, the growing social and economic divide between the North and South had a substantial effect on the United States’ condition during the 1800s. The different regions in the United States during the 1800s were the North, South, and West. The North and South practiced what is known as sectionalism, which is “competition …show more content…

These two territories were located in the region the United States acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. Because of the North and South’s diverse position on slavery, the Louisiana Purchase caused much concern among congressman in the nation. Being that members of Congress from the North opposed slavery, they did not want slave states to gain too much power in Congress, so they called for Maine and Missouri to be admitted as free states. Congressmen and senators from the South shared a different position on this issue. They felt that “restrictions upon slavery in new territories went against the Constitution and the terms of the Louisiana Purchase treaty” (Panchyk 72). The final result of much debate and discussion was the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Authored by Henry Clay of Kentucky, the compromise called for Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine, on the other hand, to be admitted as a free state. This section of the Compromise temporarily settled the dispute between the North and South over power in Congress. The Compromise also named a future plan for territories applying for statehood in the Union. It stated that “other than Missouri, slavery would be prohibited in any part of the Louisiana Purchase territory that lay north of Missouri’s southern border” (Panchyk 72). The Missouri Compromise passed into law in 1821, and many worshipped it as the compromise that permanently solved the problem of expansion of slavery in the West. Others, like Thomas Jefferson, felt that new land “signaled the beginning, not the end of conflict” (Smith 26). John Adams, an aged statesmen from the North, said that the Compromise was “the title page to a great tragic volume” (Smith

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The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a kind of an agreement between the two sides (the pro and the anti-slavery sections) with the purpose of regulating slavery in the western territories. Excluding Missouri, this settlement banned slavery in the new states of the Arkansas territory. The Missouri Compromise recognized that the Congress had no right to impose over states claiming admission to the union conditions that dit not call to those states already in the union and also established a precedent for the relegation of slavery from public territory obtained after the Constitution. After the admission of Missouri in 1821, there were no states admitted until 1836 when Arkansas became a slave state and followed by Michigan which became a free

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The Missouri Compromise started with the subject of slavery and how westerners could not agree whether to permit it or to exclude it. Those settling to the south wanted slavery for economic reasons such as labor while those settling to the north had no use for slavery at all. Politicians in Congress had attempted to preserve a sectional balance between the North and the South. There had been a balance of 11 slave and 11 free states but once Missouri bided for statehood the North raised alarm because slavery was well established there. The issue here was that if Missouri came in as a slave state, it would tip the political balance in the South’s favor.

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Leslie Chihuahua United States History to 1877 11/13/2015 11:00-11:50 AM Missouri Compromise was an agreement from the House of Representatives to reach a median to keep slavery out of Missouri after all the tribulations it had caused before it became a state. Henry Clay, Speaker of the House made important decisions in order for Missouri to be admitted as a state that could impact American history. In 1819, slavery was a resourceful profit to slave owners and this sparked a sectional controversy in the country over the efforts to expand slavery into the new western territories. The country had 22 states, eleven free eleven slave, and the line between them were distinguished by the northern and western boundaries of Pennsylvania and the Ohio River. (Txt.

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The Missouri Compromise wanted that to end. At the time, this compromise was seen as a critical agreement to preserve the balance of Congress. The United States congress admitted Missouri to the union as a state that allowed slavery and Maine as a free state. This ended up as Missouri being a free state and ending the slavery debate. The Kansas-Nebraska act, also known as the “Bleeding-Kansas” was the act that allowed

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During the 1800’s the North and Southern regions of America were very different. The North being an industrial economy, a free labor territory. While the South was a plantation economy, a slave labor territory. The greatest difference being that of slavery and therefore, there were tensions brewing between the two regions. At the beginning of the 19th century, slavery had expanded into Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

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It was immensely difficult for southern and northern states to coexist in the 1800s. Their core economic and social beliefs were exceedingly different from each other. Western states would be neutral in picking sides between northern and southern states. Southern states believed in the oppression and genocide of Native Americans, unlike northern states.

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By obtaining new territory, the U.S. enters on the dilemma whether the new territory would be a slave or free state. A compromise emerged in under pressure from House Speaker Henry Clay: the admission of free Maine, carved out the Massachusetts, was linked with that of the slave Missouri, In the rest of the Louisiana Territory north of 36°30 (Missouri’s southern boundary),

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This proposed plan was called the Missouri Compromise. The compromise stated that slavery states could not be admitted higher than the 36 degree 30’ north parallel-with the exception of Missouri. However, to balance the addition of one pro slavery state, a district of Massachusetts, named Maine, was also admitted to the union as a anti slavery state. This allowed both factions the addition of a state, without losing or gaining any power over the other. This was why the Missouri Compromise truly was a compromise and benefited both the pro slavery states and the anti slavery

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It wasn’t until Maine sought statehood that Henry Clay came up with the idea as admitting Missouri as a slave state and changing Maine to a free state. The reason for the change is so that the balance between slave and free states is still evened out. Along with changing Maine the Senate wanted to split the Louisiana purchase between north and south (36°30′), having North as a free state and South as

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Missouri Compromise The Missouri Compromise was the effort of Congress to end the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. The Missouri Compromise happened in 1820. It is important because Congress passed a bill granting Missouri statehood as a slave state under the condition that it was to be forever prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase. Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, and James Tallmadge were involved in the Missouri Compromise.

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By the 1800s Westward expansion had been transpiring significantly in the United States with the gaining of new territories through prominent occurrences including the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican-American War. As new states were admitted into the union the imperative issue of slavery expansion arose as the states would have to decide if the new additions would utilize the institution of slavery. The preservation of the balance maintained between the number of slave states and free states was prevalent in constituting resolutions to the slavery issues. The issue of slavery expansion in the western territories repeatedly emerged, provoking conflict between Northerners and Southerners because of the balance of power shared between the northern, free states and the southern, slave states. Both sides feared one would become superior and, therefore, oppress the beliefs and abilities of the other side.

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Slavery was one of the biggest problems between 1820 and 1860. Sometimes two states had to be added to the Union at the same time, to make things fair. The North and the South fought almost constantly over the issue of slavery, sometimes things were able to be worked out about it, but as the years passed, the problems with slavery and territory started to become too big to ignore or

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Missouri’s seeking to become a state in 1819 was complicated by the fact that it currently had slavery. Maine also was seeking admittance to be a (free) state so the two were paired together as free and slave, balancing out the Congress. In order to prevent further conflicts over whether states would be free or slave, Senator Jesse Thomas proposed the 36°30’ parallel to ban the introduction of slave states above Missouri, known as the Missouri Compromise. The cause of the Missouri Compromise was the division of Congress as members representing free states and slave states. If the balance was overthrown, it was feared that slavery could be abolished nationally or legalized nationally by a majority of representatives of either side.

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The compromise authorized Missouri to have no restrictions on slavery, but self-proclaimed the free state of Maine. It created a line through the remanding Louisiana Purchase and restricted slavery above line but allowed it below. The Missouri crisis complex the level of political debate over slavery. Mason believes that the “legacy of a decade’s worth of political combat involving slavery was on display” (179). The purpose was to make Missouri into a slave state and Maine a free state.

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When Missouri applied to be part of the states, many northerners were panicked because it was a pro-slavery territory and they felt that slave states had too much power already. In 1820, however, Henry Clay of Kentucky announced that if Maine were to be a free state then Missouri should be allowed to be a state too. From this came the notion that states be admitted in pairs, one slave and one free. It was also said that no slavery was allowed above the 36 30 latitude line. Despite the fact that the Missouri Compromise had taken place, slavery was still creeping into the north guised under the legal matter of “indentured servitude.

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