Slavery was a big issue in the 1800s. It divided the country into an argument between having slavery or not having slavery. It also made a conflict between the north and south and they could not agree on it. Some wanted to keep it, some wanted to get rid of it. The states would argue and they could not come up with a compromise. At the time, there was not a way to completely settle the issue, but there was a way to ease some of the dispute between the states. The Missouri compromise was made to alleviate some of the conflicts over slavery. Slavery all started in 1619 in America when African slaves were taken to Jamestown, Virginia (history.com 2017). Slavery was an acceptable practice throughout the country in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (history.com 2009). African American slaves were taken from their homes and brought to America to be put in other peoples homes and do work (gilderlehrman.org 2009). They were forced to do whatever work their owner told them to do. …show more content…
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). The South did not like the Missouri Compromise, though. They did not like it due to the fact that Congress would now have the power to make or change any rules dealing with slavery if they felt that they needed to (Forbes