THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE America’s First Slavery Debate

= OF STATES

Photo by Alan LightAlan Light

Photo by Libido Lounge

Missouri applies for admission into the Union as a SLAVE STATE. Icon by Ted Grajeda The Noun Project 1819

Tallmadge Amendment "And provided, That the further introduction of slavery or involuntary servitude be prohibited… and that all children born within the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be free at the age of twenty-five years." Rep. James Tallmadge (R- NY) 1819

Tallmadge Amendment Missouri can be admitted to the Union upon accepting GRADUAL EMANCIPATION Rep. James Tallmadge (R- NY) 1819

PARITY Slave StatesFree States Delaware Georgia Maryland South Carolina Virginia North Carolina Kentucky Tennessee Louisiana Mississippi New Jersey Pennsylvania Connecticut Massachusetts New Hampshire New York Rhode Island Vermont Ohio Indiana Illinois Balance Between Slave and Free States

PARITY

TRAJECTORY NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

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Alabama admitted as a SLAVE STATE without fanfare Photo by James Willamor James Willamor

PARITY Slave StatesFree States Delaware Georgia Maryland South Carolina Virginia North Carolina Kentucky Tennessee Louisiana Mississippi Alabama New Jersey Pennsylvania Connecticut Massachusetts New Hampshire New York Rhode Island Vermont Ohio Indiana Illinois Balance Between Slave and Free States

Bicameralism SENATESENATE Passed without Tallmadge Amendment Photo by Martin FalbisonerMartin FalbisonerHOUSEHOUSE

Bicameralism SENATESENATE Passed with Tallmadge Amendment Passed without Tallmadge Amendment Photo by Martin FalbisonerMartin FalbisonerHOUSEHOUSE

Bicameralism SENATESENATE Passed with Tallmadge Amendment Passed without Tallmadge Amendment CONFERENCE Photo by Martin FalbisonerMartin FalbisonerHOUSEHOUSE

HENRY CLAY U.S. Senator (Kentucky)

Admit Missouri as a Slave State. Admit Maine as a Free State. Prohibit slavery in the territories of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36˚30’ parallel.

Bicameralism SENATESENATE Passed WITH Clay’s Compromise Proposal Passed WITH Clay’s Compromise Proposal Photo by Martin FalbisonerMartin FalbisonerHOUSEHOUSE

36˚30’

Map Credit: Golbez

nope

THE SAGE of Monticello Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes 22 April 1820 Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes 22 April 1820

Photo by Vladimer Shioshvili

“It is hushed indeed for the moment. but this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. a geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper.”

Johnson Eastman, The Lord is My Shepherd (1863)

Photo by Neil McIntosh 20 Latin Phrases You Should Be Using (Mental Floss) 20 Latin Phrases You Should Be Using (Mental Floss)

Michelle Mikiefsky Used With Permission u/facstaff/miliefsky-m u/facstaff/miliefsky-m

“I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves, by the generation of ‘76. to acquire self government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons…”

“My only consolation is to be that I live not to weep over it. if they would but dispassionately weigh the blessings they will throw away against an abstract principle more likely to be effected by union than by scission, they would pause before they would perpetrate this act of suicide on themselves and of treason against the hopes of the world.”

ANTEBELLUM

During the debate, Charles Pinckney (SC) defended slavery as a positive good. Pinckney’s opinions did not hold much water outside of South Carolina at the time, but as Northerners continued to criticize slavery, more Southerners began to defend the institution. Pinckney’s Speech

Admit Missouri as a Slave State. Admit Maine as a Free State. Prohibit slavery in the territories of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36˚30’ parallel.