In 1819, a year before the political campaign that would elect a new president, the Missouri Territory petitioned to join the Union as a state.
At the time, America was evenly split into states that did permit slavery and those that did not, with 11 on each side.
The Constitution had stated that the issue of whether or not to allow slavery was up to each individual state.
Republican Congressman James Talmadge of New York, however, suggested that Missouri's petition to join the Union contain an amendment stating that no additional slaves could be brought into the state and that those that were already there would be eventually be set free.
This proposal launched a fierce debate in Congress and set up an issue that would loom large in the upcoming political campaign.
Southern congressmen argued that each state had the right to decide whether or not to permit slavery.
The debate was finally resolved with a compromise in March 1820.
Missouri could join the United States as a slave state, but Maine would also join as a free state.
Additional laws were passed to ban slavery in all remaining territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, north of a specific line of latitude.
Many political figures--including John Quincy Adams and Thomas Jefferson--saw the Missouri Compromise as a dangerous sign of division within the United States, where lines that separated slave states from free states were drawn.
Today, the Missouri Compromise is viewed as a political mistake.
In 1820, however, when president James Monroe was running a political campaign for reelection, his administration's policies were viewed favorably--so favorably, in fact, that the Republican members of Congress felt that it was not necessary to discuss nominations; Monroe was the clear choice as the candidate who would run the best campaign and be most likely to win on election day.
At the time, America was evenly split into states that did permit slavery and those that did not, with 11 on each side.
The Constitution had stated that the issue of whether or not to allow slavery was up to each individual state.
Republican Congressman James Talmadge of New York, however, suggested that Missouri's petition to join the Union contain an amendment stating that no additional slaves could be brought into the state and that those that were already there would be eventually be set free.
This proposal launched a fierce debate in Congress and set up an issue that would loom large in the upcoming political campaign.
Southern congressmen argued that each state had the right to decide whether or not to permit slavery.
The debate was finally resolved with a compromise in March 1820.
Missouri could join the United States as a slave state, but Maine would also join as a free state.
Additional laws were passed to ban slavery in all remaining territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, north of a specific line of latitude.
Many political figures--including John Quincy Adams and Thomas Jefferson--saw the Missouri Compromise as a dangerous sign of division within the United States, where lines that separated slave states from free states were drawn.
Today, the Missouri Compromise is viewed as a political mistake.
In 1820, however, when president James Monroe was running a political campaign for reelection, his administration's policies were viewed favorably--so favorably, in fact, that the Republican members of Congress felt that it was not necessary to discuss nominations; Monroe was the clear choice as the candidate who would run the best campaign and be most likely to win on election day.
Source...