Review: The Missouri Compromise (1820)

What were the two (2) parts of the Compromise?

(1) Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) as free, (2) except for Missouri, slavery was to be excluded from the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30′

Tensions between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the U.S. were rising in the early 1800s. What issue brought these tensions to a boiling point?

- Missouri's 1819 request for admission to the Union as a slave state

What repealed the Missouri Compromise?

- The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 - established popular sovereignty (local choice) regarding slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, though both were north of the compromise line.

Why would adding Missouri to the United States be a problem for anti-slavery groups?

- this threatened to upset the delicate balance of power in the Senate between slave states and free states

What were the two (2) parts of the compromise passed by Congress (the House of Representatives & the Senate)

1) granting Missouri's request to add it as a slave state, but also admitting Maine as a free state 2) also passed an amendment that drew an imaginary line (called the Missouri Compromise Line) across the former Louisiana Territory, establishing a boundary between free and slave regions

How many states did the United States have in 1819 (BEFORE the Missouri Compromise was passed)?

22

What was the latitude of the Missouri Compromise line?

36°30' North

Accepting Missouri as a slave state set a precedent. What was the precedent? Precedent: an earlier event or action that is regarded as an example or guide to be considered in other similar circumstances.

Congress reluctantly accepting the expansion of slavery

In what court case did the Supreme Court declare the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional?

Dred Scott

How long was the Compromise held as law in the United States?

More than 30 years --> until it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which established popular sovereignty (local choice) regarding slavery in Kansas and Nebraska, though both were north of the compromise line.

Why did the Supreme Court decide the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional?

On the basis that Congress was prohibited by the Fifth Amendment from depriving individuals of private property without due process of law.

Sectional rivalries are?

Rivalries where people from a distinct region or subdivision of a territory or community or group of people face off against other regions.

Northerners argued against the Missouri Compromise, what was their argument?

They argued that Congress had the power to prohibit slavery in a new state

Southerners argued for the Missouri Compromise, what was their argument?

They argued that new states had the same freedom of action as the original thirteen and were thus free to choose slavery if they wanted to have it

Why did Southerners criticize the Missouri Compromise?

They thought that it established the principle that Congress could make laws regarding slavery

Political rivalries are ...?

When people from different political parties face off against each other

Faction

a small, organized, dissenting group within a larger one, especially in politics.

Acquiesce

accept something reluctantly but without protest

2. Why did Northerners condemn the Compromise?

for acquiescing (giving up) in the expansion of slavery (though only south of the compromise line)

Negate

nullify; make ineffective.

Popular Sovereignty

people who lived in a region should determine for themselves the nature of their government

Dissent

to hold or express opinions that are different than those previously, commonly, or officially expressed.