1. Megan Dunn and Madison So Megan Dunn and Madison So

2.   When Missouri was petitioning to join the union in 1818, there was a balance between slave states and free states (11 to 11)  At that time, free states had more representatives in the House of Reps than slave states because they held the majority of the population (105 to 81). However they were equally represented in the Senate so either group had the power to stop legislation it opposed  Admitting Missouri into the Union, either as a free or slave state would have tipped the scale and disrupted the balance that had been struck Balance of Power

3.   The North wanted Missouri to be admitted as a free state because they wanted to halt the expansion of slavery particularly into the Louisiana Territory  The South wanted Missouri to be admitted as a slave state in order to preserve slavery and prevent legislation that prohibited it. Slavery was an essential part of the Southern economy, they wanted to protect the institution with more slave states and their votes in Congress North vs. South

4.   February 1819- A New York Representative, James Tallmadge, proposed an amendment abolishing slavery in Missouri  There were over 2,000 slaves in Missouri at the time  The debate over the moral aspects of slavery began to heat up once again  The some in the North were strongly opposed the bondage of fellow human beings by another  The South claimed that their right to institute slavery was protected by the Constitution The State of Missouri

5.   March 3, 1820- The states finally came to an uneasy agreement: The Missouri Compromise. Proposed by Henry Clay, who came to be known as “the great pacificator”, the Compromise outlined a plan in which Maine(who was seeking statehood at the time as well) was admitted to the Union as a free state and Missouri a slave state preserving the balance. In regards to the further expansion of slavery, the Compromise ruled that all new states within the Louisiana territory above the southern boarder of Missouri, excluding Missouri, would be free The Compromise

6.   SEC. 8. And be it further enacted. That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, not included within the limits of the state, contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly convicted, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited: Provided always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom labour or service is lawfully claimed, in any state or territory of the United States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labour or service as aforesaid. ("Our Documents") Excerpt

7.  State of the Union

8.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgELv4aNHjQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgELv4aNHjQ  0:42-2:19 Missouri Compromise Video

9.   The Compromise was only a postponement of the impending feud over slavery between the North and the South that would ultimately contribute to the the start of the Civil War.  Created tensions between the North and South and increased sectionalism.  Repealed by the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act  Ruled unconstitutional in the Dred Scott decision of 1857 The Future of the Missouri Compromise

10.   Brinkley, Alan. A Survey of American History. 12th. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 224-225. Print.  Eisert, Kevin. "Secession Crisis." The War For States Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan 2012..  "Missouri Compromise (1820)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2012.  "Missouri Compromise." Africans in America. PBS Online, n.d. Web. 29 Jan 2012.. www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3h511.html  "Transcript of Missouri Compromise (1820)." Our Documents. National History Day, n.d. Web. 29 Jan 2012. <http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php? Works Cited