According to the Missouri Compromise, Slavery Would be Tolerated Everywhere or No Where

1550 Words4 Pages

In the early 1800’s slavery was a very big issue. Southern farmers and plantation owners believed it was their right to own slaves. Northern abolitionists felt that slavery should have been illegal everywhere. The North and South fought over if and where slavery should be legal. A man named James Tallmadge proposed an amendment that would have ended slavery. This bill was opposed by the south and ultimately failed. Then a man by the name of John Taylor tried to pass a similar bill to end slavery as a whole only to meet the same result. Both bills failed and with the north and south at each others throats, it looked as if it was going to separate the nation and cause a war between the North and South. But then a senator by the name of Henry Clay thought of an idea. By taking advantage of his position he influenced the house to accept a compromise created by Jesse B. Thomas between what the North and South wanted. This was called the Missouri Compromise. During the late year of 1819, Missouri wanted to be recognized as a state. This however scared the north as they wanted to be a slave state. Missouri becoming a slave state would have disrupted the balance and caused the number of slaves state to be higher than that of the free states. The north feared this because that meant that slaves states would be dominant over free states and give the south the advantage in congress. With the North being represented by senator Rufus King and the South represented by William Pinkney, congress debated from December 1819 to March 1820. Luckily around the same time that Missouri applied for statehood, so did Maine. The north saw this opportunity and quickly used it to keep the balance and please the war ready south. It was implemented in 1... ... middle of paper ... ...h many slaves were able to escape to free places such as Haiti and Canada, others were not so lucky. The Missouri Compromise was a very successful yet flawed document that stalled the civil war for at least thirty years. The compromise framed the westward expansion of slavery. It set many laws in regards to slavery that would hold the northerners from lashing out at the southerners and sharing the war even earlier. Lastly it separate the economic, political and ethical interests and beliefs of the northern, southern and western regions of the U.S. Although it delayed the Civil war by at least thirty years, it was inevitable. Eventually the issue of slavery would have to be faced head on. Slavery was either going to be tolerated everywhere or no where at all. The North had decided that slavery wouldn't be tolerated and the south seceded from the united states.

Open Document