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The Missouri Compromise

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South Carolinian, John H. Cochran chronicled the agitation in South Carolina during the nullification crisis. Cochran’s mother received a letter from Cochran explaining the rising anxiety and uncertainty of war in South Carolina at the time. Cochran states “So much so that thinking men believe that a war between the sections is imminent” (Cochran, VS). Cochran details how the country is in a fearful state of agitation, and Cochran claims visiting family at the time would be too difficult due to the impending possibility of war. In the 19th century, America lost all sectional compromise between the North and the South. The first step towards the complete downfall, the Missouri Compromise occurred in 1820 because of Henry Clay. The North and …show more content…

The North and the South had different views on slavery at the time, the South wanted to expand slavery westward while the North wanted slavery to stay put. The South felt it was a state right to expand slavery and thought it would be best for the economy if slavery continued to expand. After years of dispute, finally in 1820, a man by the name of Henry Clay led the North and South to an agreement, known today as the Missouri Compromise. Missouri ended up becoming a slave state, Maine became a free state, which created a balance in the senate. The senate required an equal number of slave states and non-slave states. Henry Clay also included the 36/30 parallel in the Missouri Compromise. The 36/30 parallel stated any state who applies for statehood, from that point on, if the state lied above the 36/30 parallel it became free, and any state below the 36/30 parallel became slave. The Missouri Compromise worked for a long time, satisfying the needs of the North and the South. However, the Missouri Compromise exposed the opposing views on states rights the North had compared to the …show more content…

In the 1830’s and 1840’s, the idea of popular sovereignty got introduced to Americans by a man named Stephen Douglas. Popular sovereignty, a right that a state could vote and decide, based on a popular opinion, the societal standpoint of the state, free versus slave. After America won the Mexican War, America gained a lot of land when Mexico ceded. Again, the North and South didn’t know what to do regarding the new land. Thanks once again to Henry Clay, America found a way to compromise. Texas became a slave state, California became a free state, and the Utah/New Mexico territories organized with popular sovereignty. Even though America compromised, compromise between the North and South was non-existent. The nullification crisis broke apart the compromise between the sections of the U.S. and popular sovereignty allowed, what little was left of peace, fade. Popular sovereignty had the biggest impact in the Kansas/Nebraska Act in 1854. The KA/NB act is considered as the true end of the Missouri Compromise. The Kansas/Nebraska Act is also referred to as “Bleeding Kansas”, because of the violence that occurred. The people in Kansas felt popular sovereignty should be granted as a state right, Kansas is a large farming area, so Kansas really wanted to become a slave state. When Kansas was granted popular sovereignty, it was the last straw for anti-slaves. People against slavery, moved from all over the country to fight the

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Gracie Evans Ms. Stader APUSH 14 November 2017 In the early years of the Antebellum era, or pre-war period, compromise was essential. Despite tensions between the North and South caused by things like Uncle Tom’s Cabin of 1852 (Robbins), arguments over states rights, and rumours of southern secession, it seemed like compromise was always possible. The main turning point for this was in 1854.

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102 Words | 1 Pages

In the era before the Civil War America was expanding westward. The Louisiana Purchase and other lands gained help to give America new land to expand on, but this leaded to issues with the division of free and slave states. As Missouri became a state they wanted to become a slave state, which caused trouble. In order to keep equilibrium between the states, Congress came up with the Missouri Compromise of 1820.The Missouri Compromise made Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state. The Treaty also made a line within the Louisiana Territory to keep slavery from moving up the

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510 Words | 3 Pages

Another was the economy which depended on slavery because of cheap labor, but The North was depended on trading and factories. This eliminated the fight between the North and South by Three-Fifths Compromise. In 1783 the Constitution convention proposed that a tax should be a portion of the population, it had come again slave issue not paying taxes equally. It was a great solution to add on to Three-Fifths Compromise. Commerce Compromise was over, the government that Congress makes the rules and regulation between the Northern and Southern States in 1787.

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The North, which were anti-slavery, argued that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in the new state. Meanwhile, the South,which were pro-slavery, believed that states, rather than the government, should have the right to decide whether they wanted slavery or not therefore they argued that the State of Missouri had the right to decide whether they wanted to be a slave state or not and that it should not be up to the Congress to decide. In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise which allowed Missouri to be a slave state and allowed Maine into the Union as a free state to resolve crisis, which a member of Congress, Henry Clay, offered. The history surrounding the nineteenth century led to the establishment of the Missouri

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242 Words | 1 Pages

Prior to the events of Bleeding Kansas that begun in 1854, the United States followed a strict policy of compromise in regards to it’s political decisions. Being a relatively newly founded country a great deal of care was given towards pleasing the citizens of the United States, through compromise, in order to maintain a stable society. This is specifically evident in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and the Compromise of 1850. These events helped to maintain the stability of American society for a time. However, as the nation developed further there became apparent divides on many matters, but mainly over slavery.

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1186 Words | 5 Pages

The Compromise of 1820 was caused by Missouri wanting to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. This would have caused an imbalance between slave states and free states in Congress. So, the free states, the North, opposed Missouri being a slave state. The compromise was possible because there was also the admittance of Maine to the Union as a free state, so Missouri could be a slave state without disrupting the balance in Congress. There was also the 36°30' line that started from Missouri.

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When in 1850 the California Territory asked to be admitted as a free state into the Union, many southerners opposed the request because they feared that that new admission would have upset the sectional balance in the Congress between free state representatives and slave state representatives. The Senator Henry Clay proposed a series of law later called under the common name of Compromise of 1850. According to these laws, California would be admitted into the Union as free slave; to balance it there would be created two new slave states, Utah and New Mexico, where slavery had to be determined by popular sovereignty; slavery in Washington D.C. would be ended; and finally the issuing of the Fugitive Slave Act that made easier for the southern to recover fugitive slaves. Even though the Compromise of 1850 acted as a temporary solution, later in time it resulted in further severe problems as the Bleeding Kansas in 1854, where pro-slavery citizens and anti-slavery citizens quarrelsome produced a sort of small civil

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While they did not always agree, they at least could manage their differences. By 1860, the tables had turned. The country was not willing to negotiate with their rival. The South was not willing to stand down for the cause of slavery and the North was not willing to stand for the cause of slavery. Both the North and the South had too much pride that was not going to be swallowed any time

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There was a conflict between the states when the new territory Kansas went against the Missouri Compromise. The Compromise stated that There could be no slavery beyond the latitude of 36 degrees and 30 degrees. In 1854 Kansas broke out into a fight under the doctrine of popular sovereignty which means the people of Kansas can choose if they want to be a free state or a slave state. Under those terms, Pro-slavery parties and Antislavery parties clashed for whether Kansas becomes the state of the South or of the

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The Compromise of 1850 done what it set out to do, it kept the nation united, but the solution was only for a little while. Over the following decade the country's citizens became further separated over the issue of

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818 Words | 4 Pages

During the early part of the 1800's, the Northern states banned the buying, trading, and use of slaves. They also advocated to get rid of slavery in the entire country. The Southern states had been using slaves to run their economy since their founding, as they did not have access to the plentiful natural resources found to the North. This caused a major conflict for Congress and our country, who all sensed a civil war would come if nothing was done about it. Then, in an attempt to make both sides happy for as long as possible, Senator Henry Clay proposed his idea for the Compromise of 1850.

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1121 Words | 5 Pages

However, the Missouri Compromise caused some problems. The compromise equaled the concerns and interests in the North and South, but the South was upset about how Congress gave itself the power to create and pass laws dealing with slavery. Much of the North was upset because Congress let slavery spread into another state. There were people who didn’t want to compromise, and others who did, such as Henry Clay.

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478 Words | 2 Pages

The U.S was only able to settle political disputes through compromise until 1860 because of the increasing sectionalism, the Abolitionist Movement and the Secession of South Carolina. New states joined into congress creating an unbalanced senate forcing congress to make decisions to balance the nation between freedom and slavery. The Missouri Compromise failed as an attempt to maintain peace between the North and South because it created an greater sense of sectionalism throughout the country. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a decision to make Missouri a slave state to maintain an even number of free and slave states. It led to uproar in congress and the North retaliated by declaring the rest of the Louisiana territory to be free.

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758 Words | 4 Pages

The Southern states even threatened to secede because of the differences in opinion on slavery. To prevent this, Congress passed the Missouri Compromise in 1820. Missouri joined the Union as a slave state, but in exchange, Maine was admitted as a free state. In addition, all states and lands north of the 36°30’ parallel would be free (except for Missouri). This ‘compromise’ somehow managed to hold America together, but no one was really satisfied.

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1563 Words | 7 Pages

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).

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