The Missouri Compromise was the result of the first debate in Congress concerning the spread of slavery, occurring in 1819-1820. When Missouri applied for admission into the Union, many in Congress objected to Missouri's admission as a slave state, supporting the Tallmadge Amendment that would have made gradual emancipation a condition for admission. When the Senate and the House could not agree on whether to pass the bill with or without the Tallmadge Amendment (the slave states had more influence in the Senate), Henry Clay proposed a compromise that brought Missouri into the Union as a slave state on the condition that Maine also be brought in as a free state and that all territories in the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36˚30 parallel be closed to slavery.
While many congratulated Henry Clay on a job well done, Thomas Jefferson worried greatly from his retirement at Monticello. He believed that the Missouri debate would only be the first of several debates regarding slavery and its expansion. While an opponent of the idea of slavery in the abstract, he did not see a path toward a practical end of slavery in the immediate future. With Jefferson's predictions coming true and the period between 1820-1860 being filled with debates concerning slavery, historians have often placed the Missouri Compromise at the beginning of the Antebellum (Before the War) Period.
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6. 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." Rep. James Tallmadge
(R- NY)
1819
8. PARITY
Slave States Free States
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
South Carolina
Virginia
North Carolina
Kentucky
Tennessee
Louisiana
Mississippi
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Balance Between Slave
and Free States
12. Some rights reserved by National Museum of American History
Northwest Ordinance
in Northwest Territories
13. Alabama
admitted as a
SLAVE STATE
without fanfare.
Icon by Ted Grajeda
The Noun Project
1819
Photo by
James Willamor
14.
15. PARITY
Slave States Free States
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
South Carolina
Virginia
North Carolina
Kentucky
Tennessee
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Balance Between Slave
and Free States
21. 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.
31. Photo by Vladimer Shioshvili
n. the sound of a bell, especially
when rung solemnly for a
death or funeral.
32. “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.”
33. 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)
34. 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.
35. Photo by Neil McIntosh
20 Latin Phrases You Should
Be Using (Mental Floss)
37. “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…”
38. “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.”
40. 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
41. 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.