Reasons for the Missouri Compromise

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How far was the Missouri Compromise driven by economic rather than moral reasons?

When Congress was presented with the problem of Missouri, an area within the Louisiana Purchase requesting permission to form a constitution in preparation for admission to the Union as a state, it had to quickly seek a compromise in order to prevent already stale situations within the US getting exacerbated. Jefferson described the incident as "like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror" for it opened up the issue of slavery being an economic v moral issue.

Missouri already had a slave-owning population of more than 10,000 (16% of the total) and they wanted a further increase of slaves, as they believed it was needed due to the vast spread of cotton cultivation and the slave owning which was spreading rapidly up the Mississippi river from Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas. Those within Missouri wanted more slaves to be allowed in so that they could capitalise on the economic advantage which the other agricultural states in the south had been able to gain from. However, James Tallmadge (a Republican) believed that for moral issues, the introduction of new slaves should