THE
MISSOURI
COMPROMISE
America’s First
Slavery Debate
OF STATES
Photo by Alan Light
The Pledging Process
“New States may be admitted by the
Congress into this Union…”
U.S. Constitution (Art. 4)
Photo by Libido Lounge
1819
Missouri applies
for admission
into the Union as
a SLAVE STATE.
Icon by Ted Grajeda
The Noun Project
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."
1819
Rep. James Tallmadge
(R- NY)
Tallmadge Amendment
1819
Missouri can be admitted to
the Union upon accepting
GRADUAL
EMANCIPATION
Rep. James Tallmadge
(R- NY)
PARITY
Slave States
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
South Carolina
Virginia
North Carolina
Kentucky
Tennessee
Louisiana
Mississippi
Balance Between Slave
and Free States
Free States
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
PARITY
Balance Between Slave
and Free States
1820 - 1850
TRAJECTORY
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Northwest Ordinance
in Northwest Territories
Some rights reserved by National Museum of American History
1819
Alabama
admitted as a
SLAVE STATE
without fanfare.
Icon by Ted Grajeda
The Noun Project
Photo by
James Willamor
PARITY
Slave States
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
South Carolina
Virginia
North Carolina
Kentucky
Tennessee
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Balance Between Slave
and Free States
Free States
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Bicameralism
Passed
without
Tallmadge
Amendment
SENATE
HOUSE
Photo by Martin Falbisoner
Bicameralism
Passed
without
Passed
with
Tallmadge
Amendment
Tallmadge
Amendment
SENATE
HOUSE
Photo by Martin Falbisoner
Bicameralism
Passed
without
CONFERENCE
Passed
with
Tallmadge
Amendment
Tallmadge
Amendment
SENATE
HOUSE
Photo by Martin Falbisoner
HENRY
CLAY
U.S. Senator
(Kentucky)
THE
GREAT
COMPROMISER
:
Clay’s proposal
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
Passed
Passed
WITH
WITH
Clay’s
Compromise
Proposal
Clay’s
Compromise
Proposal
SENATE
HOUSE
Photo by Martin Falbisoner
36˚30’
36˚30’
Map Credit: Golbez
HAPPILY
EVER
AFTER
nope
THE SAGE of
Monticello
Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes
22 April 1820
“This momentous
question, like a
fire bell in the
night, awakened
and filled me
with terror…”
“I considered
it at once as
the knell of
the Union.”
n. the sound of a bell, especially
when rung solemnly for a
death or funeral.
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.”
I can say with conscious truth that there is not a
man on earth who would sacrifice more than I
would, to relieve us from this heavy reproach, in
any practicable way.
Johnson Eastman, The Lord is My Shepherd (1863)
A general emancipation and expatriation
could be effected: and, gradually, and with
due sacrifices, I think it might be.
Johnson Eastman, The Lord is My Shepherd (1863)
20 Latin Phrases You Should
Be Using (Mental Floss)
Photo by Neil McIntosh
Michelle Mikiefsky
Used With Permission
http://windward.hawaii.ed
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
1820-1860
A South Carolina Perspective…
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
Pinckney
:
LET’S REVIEW
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.