Missouri Compromise
Many Americans believed in manifest destiny, that it was the Americans right and duty to conquer the western lands. They believed this was crucial to the nation's health, but what about the issue of slavery in the West?
The establishment of the new west territory in the U.S. made slavery a great concern for national politics. Balancing slave and free states had played a key role from the very start of designing the government at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The rights of the African American in favor of a stronger union among states, exploded once more when Missouri become a state in 1819 as a slave state. In 1819, the nation contained eleven free states and eleven slave states which created balance in the U.S. Senate. But when Missouri was considered a possible state, this threatened to through the compromise into pro-slave favor. There was a strong and bitter debate in Congress, whether to make Missouri a slave or free state. Congressman James Tallmadge of New York proposed that slavery be banned in the new Missouri state.
The defenders of anti-slavery relied on the central principle of fairness in their debate. How could Congress deny a new state the right to decide for itself whether or not to allow slavery? If Congress controlled the decision, the new state would not have the right to choose for itself. Henry Clay, a leading congressman, played a very big role in the making of the solution known as the Missouri Compromise. The first part of the compromise would be that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state into the union, but would be balanced out with the admittance of Maine (as a free state), that wanted to be separated from Massachusetts. The second part of the compromise would be that slavery was abolished from any future state admitted into the union if it was in the Louisiana Purchase and north of the southern boundary of Missouri.
Both sides of the debate found this solution to be deeply flawed. Nether the less the Missouri Compromise lasted for thirty years until the Kansas-Nebraska Law of 1854 that gave new states the right to choose if they wanted to be a free or slave state. This plan (Missouri Compromise) caused an enormous, problematic area of American politics that would eventually end up into the Civil War. Thomas Jefferson's view on the compromise was that "This momentous question, like a fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror."
The Missouri Compromise led to the revolt of many black slaves. In 1822, Denmark Vesey organized a slave rebellion. They had planned to capture the Charleston arsenal and seize the city long enough to for the city's slaves to escape to Haiti. Unfortunately, this rebellion was betrayed days before the set date and resulted in the execution of thirty-five organizers ad the destruction of a black church house. The Missouri Compromise helped transform the nation by leading the U.S. into the fight for equality in all the states (Civil War).
The establishment of the new west territory in the U.S. made slavery a great concern for national politics. Balancing slave and free states had played a key role from the very start of designing the government at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The rights of the African American in favor of a stronger union among states, exploded once more when Missouri become a state in 1819 as a slave state. In 1819, the nation contained eleven free states and eleven slave states which created balance in the U.S. Senate. But when Missouri was considered a possible state, this threatened to through the compromise into pro-slave favor. There was a strong and bitter debate in Congress, whether to make Missouri a slave or free state. Congressman James Tallmadge of New York proposed that slavery be banned in the new Missouri state.
The defenders of anti-slavery relied on the central principle of fairness in their debate. How could Congress deny a new state the right to decide for itself whether or not to allow slavery? If Congress controlled the decision, the new state would not have the right to choose for itself. Henry Clay, a leading congressman, played a very big role in the making of the solution known as the Missouri Compromise. The first part of the compromise would be that Missouri would be admitted as a slave state into the union, but would be balanced out with the admittance of Maine (as a free state), that wanted to be separated from Massachusetts. The second part of the compromise would be that slavery was abolished from any future state admitted into the union if it was in the Louisiana Purchase and north of the southern boundary of Missouri.
Both sides of the debate found this solution to be deeply flawed. Nether the less the Missouri Compromise lasted for thirty years until the Kansas-Nebraska Law of 1854 that gave new states the right to choose if they wanted to be a free or slave state. This plan (Missouri Compromise) caused an enormous, problematic area of American politics that would eventually end up into the Civil War. Thomas Jefferson's view on the compromise was that "This momentous question, like a fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror."
The Missouri Compromise led to the revolt of many black slaves. In 1822, Denmark Vesey organized a slave rebellion. They had planned to capture the Charleston arsenal and seize the city long enough to for the city's slaves to escape to Haiti. Unfortunately, this rebellion was betrayed days before the set date and resulted in the execution of thirty-five organizers ad the destruction of a black church house. The Missouri Compromise helped transform the nation by leading the U.S. into the fight for equality in all the states (Civil War).