USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In February 1820, the Senate added a second part to the joint statehood bill: With the exception of Missouri, slavery would be banned in all of the former Louisiana Purchase lands north of the 36º 30’ latitude, which ran along Missouri’s southern border.

Detailed explanation-2: -This legislation admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30’ latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory.

Detailed explanation-3: -This so-called Missouri Compromise drew a line from east to west along the 36th parallel, dividing the nation into competing halves-half free, half slave. The House passed the compromise bill on March 2, 1820.

Detailed explanation-4: -On January 11, 1865, a state convention approved an ordinance abolishing slavery in Missouri by a vote of 60-4, and later the same day, Governor Thomas C. Fletcher followed up with his own “Proclamation of Freedom". This action effectively marked the end of legal slavery in the state of Missouri.

Detailed explanation-5: -Missouri’s application opened a political firestorm over the spread of slavery in the new western territories and disrupted the balance of free and slave states. There were 22 states in the Union, 11 free and 11 slave states.