2. Background
• America, in the 1800’s, was divided into slave
and free states.
• There was a want of both types of states to
have equal numbers of each.
3. Division of the States before 1820
Slave States
• Delaware
• Georgia
• Maryland
• South Carolina
• Virginia
• North Carolina
• Kentucky
• Tennessee
• Louisiana
• Mississippi
• Alabama
Free States
• New Jersey (slave until 1804)
• Pennsylvania
• Connecticut
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New York (slave until 1799)
• Rhode Island
• Vermont
• Ohio
• Indiana
• Illinois
4. Reasons for the Compromise
• Missouri, having a high enough population,
wished to become a state.
• However the free states did not wish for
another slave state to be admitted without a
free state.
5. Facts about the Compromise
• It was passed in 1820.
• It involved the regulation of slavery in the
western territories
• It was an agreement between both the pro-
slavery and anti-slavery parties in congress.
6. Main points of the Compromise
• It admitted to the United States Maine, a free
state, and Missouri, a slave state.
• It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana
Territory above the parallel 36°30' north,
except for within Missouri.
• This was known as the
Missouri Compromise Line.
7. Historical Significance
• This was the first instance of Congressional
exclusion of slavery from public territory since
the Northwest Ordinance.
• Until 1836, no other states were admitted to
the United States.
8. Repeal
• The prohibition of slavery north of the parallel
36°30' north was repealed by the Kansas-
Nebraska Act of 1854.
• In the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in 1857, the
Supreme Court ruled that Congress did not
have the power to prohibit slavery in
territories and that the Missouri Compromise
Line was unconstitutional.
