Missouri Compromise Facts
Missouri Compromise Facts
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Interesting Missouri Compromise Facts: |
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The pro-slavery faction in Congress was known as "anti-restrictionists," while the anti-slavery faction was the "restrictionists." |
President James Monroe signed the compromise into law on March 6, 1820. Monroe was from Virginia and a slave owner, although he wasn't a major advocate in terms of expanding slavery into the West. |
Slavery in Missouri became an issue when on February 13, 1819, Representative James Tallmadge Junior added an amendment to the statehood bill that prohibited bringing more slaves into the state and gradually freed those born into slavery. |
The two major political parties of the time were the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists. Monroe was a Democratic-Republican, as were most in the South and in the North west of New England. The sectional differences became more important during the Missouri statehood debates, though, with the Northern Democratic-Republicans voting with the Federalists to restrict slavery in Missouri. |
Although 60% of all white Americans, of which only the men could vote in 1819, lived in the North, the Northern states held only a slight majority in House seats due to the 3/5 clause of the Constitution, which counted 3/5 of the slave population for congressional representation. This clause was continued in Missouri. |
The long-term effects of the Missouri Compromise are debated by historians. Most agree that it postponed the Civil War for several years or even decades, but some believe that it exposed the rift between North and South even more and ensured that conflict would happen later. |
The 36°30 element of the compromise, which was considered to be the most important part of it, was repealed in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. |
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