The Missouri Compromise "A Balance of Power" March 3, 1820
The institution of slavery had been a divisive issue in the United States for decades
before the territory of Missouri petitioned Congress for admission to the Union as a
state in 1818. Since the Revolution, the country had grown from 13 states to 22
and had managed to maintain a balance of power between slave and free states.
There were 11 free states and 11 slave states, a situation that gave each faction
equal representation in the Senate and the power to prevent the passage of
legislation not to its liking. The free states, with their much larger populations,
controlled the House of Representatives, 105 votes to 81.
In February 1819, New York Representative James Tallmadge proposed an
amendment to ban slavery in Missouri even though there were more than 2,000
slaves living there. The country was again confronted with the volatile issue of the
spread of slavery into new territories and states. The cry against the South's
"peculiar institution" had grown louder through the years. "How long will the desire
for wealth render us blind to the sin of holding both the bodies and souls of our
fellow men in chains?" Asked Representative Livermore from New Hampshire.
The South's economy was dependent upon black slavery, and 200 years of living
with the institution had made it an integral part of Southern life and culture. The
South demanded that the North recognize its right to have slaves as secured in
the Constitution.
Through the efforts of Henry Clay, "the great
pacificator," a compromise was finally reached on
March 3, 1820, after Maine petitioned Congress for
statehood. Both states were admitted, a free Maine
and a slave Missouri, and the balance of power in
Congress was maintained as before, postponing the
inevitable showdown for another generation. In an
attempt to address the issue of the further spread
of slavery, however, the Missouri Compromise
stipulated that all the Louisiana Purchase territory
north of the southern boundary of Missouri, except
Missouri, would be free, and the territory below that
line would be slave.
Questions for Thought:
1. In your own words, summarize the argument
used by Northerners against the spread of
slavery into new territories.
2. What impact did the expansion of the US after 1820 have on the Missouri
Compromise?
3. Why did the Tallmadge Amendment anger southerners?
The Missouri Compromise