USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Controversy arose within Congress over the issue of slavery. Congress adopted this legislation and admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so that the balance between slave and free states in the nation would remain equal.

Detailed explanation-2: -Contents. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a law that tried to address growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery. By passing the law, which President James Monroe signed, the U.S. Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery, and Maine as a free state.

Detailed explanation-3: -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.

Detailed explanation-4: -However, President James Monroe, Speaker of the House Henry Clay and key Senate Democratic-Republicans worked behind the scenes on a compromise to solve this crisis. Senate Democratic-Republicans linked the admission of Maine to the Union to Missouri’s admission, essentially holding Maine statehood hostage.

Detailed explanation-5: -Few Northerners wanted to abolish slavery; most wanted slavery, and black people, to remain in the South. Maine provided a solution for the dilemma Missouri caused. Congress declared in 1819 that Maine’s admission as a free state would be tied directly to Missouri’s entrance as a slave state.