The 1820 Missouri Compromise.

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The 1820 Missouri Compromise

Michael Argenti

Whilst the institution of slavery had been a divisive issue in the political arena of the United States (consider the Northwest Ordinance of 1787) it was not until the territory of Missouri petitioned Congress for admission to the Union that this issue was brought to confrontation. Slavery had existed in all the English mainland colonies and had come to dominate the South. In fact, most of the Founding Fathers themselves were large-scale slaveholders, as were eight of the first twelve presidents of the United States. Since the Revolutionary War the Union had grown from only thirteen states to twenty-two states and yet, constantly managed to maintain a sense of balance between free and slave states. With eleven ‘free’ states and eleven ‘slave’ states there was voting stability in the Senate allowing the prevention of legislation from being passed by either side if it was not to their approval. Conversely, in the House of Representatives the free states had the majority, 105 votes to 81, due to a larger population of the northern states. Whilst this symmetry had been challenged on prior occasions, agreement had always been reached based on the geographical location of the state. This was decided based on the Mason-Dixon Line and the Ohio River, both which created a natural boundary between free and slave states. However, no such division had been constructed for states lying west of the Mississippi River. This geographical and political dilemma became apparent when the territory of Missouri applied for admission into the Union. The country was again confronted with the volatile issue of the spread of slavery into new territories and states.

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Against this backdrop many historians have come to believe that the conflict involving Missouri, the debates and compromise that followed, planted the seeds of moral, political and religious division which ultimately led to the Civil War thirty years later. In February 1819, the slavery issue in the United States was dramatically brought to everyone's attention. People were awakened to the gravity of the issue. The ensuing debate, passionate and explosive, frightened those who read about it in the newspapers. Thomas Jefferson, living in retirement at Monticello, later wrote to John Holmes of Massachusetts: "this momentous question, like a fire-bell ...

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