The Missouri Compromise of 1820

Introduction

The Compromise of 1820 in Missouri was an important event in the United States because it made slavery a topic of national argument. It was designed to settle the dispute over whether Missouri should be admitted into the Union as a slave or free state and drew a line through the country below which future states could have slaves. This discussion examines what each side wanted from this agreement and how it achieved those goals.

Discussion:

The Missouri Compromise was established because of a lot of arguments about whether or not Missouri should be admitted into the Union as a slave state. During this period, America was divided into states that allowed slavery and those that did not, with concerns growing over whether it should be allowed in new territories. The North, which was largely against slavery, wanted to keep it from spreading so as to uphold the freedom and equality that the country stood for. On the other hand, Southern states where slaves were used extensively both economically and socially insisted on their right to take them anywhere they wanted for political power reasons as well as maintaining control over resources. These interests that are opposite were reflected by the Missouri Compromise. In Congress, they achieved parity between free and slave states by allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state. However, the North was against this because of its antislavery sentiments and so in order to satisfy them, Maine had to be admitted into the Union as a free state thereby cancelling out any effect caused by adding Missouri. Another thing is that it drew an imaginary line running across Louisiana Territory at 36°30' N latitude where no one could live with slaves from states below unless such persons were within Missouri’s borders. The idea behind this condition was to prevent slavery from spreading into new lands obtained through the Louisiana Purchase.

The North and South had different intentions when negotiating the Missouri Compromise. The North mainly wanted to stop slavery from spreading into new territories any further as they considered it morally incorrect and inconsistent with freedom and equality as stated in the Declaration of Independence. They aimed at restricting slavery within current slave states so that it could be done away with completely in future. The South, however, wanted to defend its economic concerns and maintain slavery. Slavery was essential to the Southern economy, especially in growing cash crops like tobacco, cotton and sugar. The Southern region became scared that if they limited the extension of slave labor it would reduce their political influence over Congress as well as prosperity for them economically. Thus admitting Missouri into the union among other states where others owned people legally was necessary because without such action taken, there could be no equal representation between North and South which also threatened the existence of this institution within states below the Mason-Dixon line.

Conclusion

In conclusion, The Missouri Compromise of 1820 can be said to have been a stopgap solution to the increasing strife between the antislavery North and the proslavery South. In order to level out different interests, it was enacted that Missouri should enter as a slave state while forbidding slavery expansion into new territories above latitude line 36°30'N. This move realised some ambitions for both sides – though not all of them; thus there still remained deep-seated conflicts over slavery which eventually brought about more wars and finally civil war.