mar 6, 1820 - Missouri Compromise

Description:

In 1820, Missouri expressed a desire to join the Union as a slave state. The government did not want an unbalance of power between free and slave states, and was further unsettled by Missouri's confusing geography, as it seemed not quite either north or south of the country. Henry Clay proposed the Missouri Compromise, also known as the Compromise of 1820, which added Missouri as a slave state, along with the addition of Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) as a free state (the borders between Maine and New Brunswick were still disputed). Additionally, the Compromise prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30', with the exception of Missouri. This caused unrest in the South, who were angry that slavery was being restricted. The 36°30' line would later be ignored in the creation of the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and then repealed in the Dred Scott Decision.