Describe the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a legislative agreement reached in the United States Congress. It was primarily aimed at resolving the conflict between the Northern and Southern states over the issue of expanding slavery into new territories.
The compromise was proposed by Henry Clay, a senator from Kentucky, and it consisted of several key provisions. Firstly, Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state, which would maintain the balance between slave and free states. Secondly, Maine, which was previously part of Massachusetts, would be admitted as a free state, further preserving the balance.
To address the issue of future territories, the compromise established the 36°30' parallel as the boundary between free and slave states in the Louisiana Purchase territory. Slavery would be prohibited north of this line, except within the boundaries of Missouri.
The Missouri Compromise sought to maintain a delicate equilibrium between the Northern and Southern states, as it prevented the expansion of slavery into most of the territories acquired from the Louisiana Purchase. It was seen as a temporary resolution to the debate over slavery, buying some time to ease tensions between the two regions.
However, the Missouri Compromise was eventually repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which led to significant territorial conflicts and further deepened the divide between the Northern and Southern states. Nonetheless, the Missouri Compromise is historically significant as one of the first major compromises attempted to address the issue of slavery in the United States.