The Missouri Compromise and Slavery in the Western U.S. By ...

 The Missouri Compromise and Slavery in the Western U.S. By , adapted by Newsela staffThis political map of the United States shows the area of the free and slave states and the territory open to slavery or freedom by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Photo from Library of Congress. 114300114300Most white Americans agreed that the United States should expand westward. The question was what should be done about slavery?Slavery had become a big issue. Huge numbers of slaves had been taken to the new territories. Slavery exploded as a debate once more in 1819 when Missouri asked to join the United States as a slave state. Bitter debate over MissouriIn 1819, the nation had 11 free and 11 slave states. Each state got two senators in Congress, so free and slave states had an equal number of senators. This created a balance in the U.S. Senate. If Missouri entered the U.S. as a slave state, it could give slave states more power. Congressman James Tallmadge from New York suggested that slavery be outlawed in the new state. The debate in Congress was whether Missouri should be admitted as a slave state or a free state. The defenders of slavery asked how Congress could deny a new state the right to decide whether or not to allow slavery. They argued that if Congress made that decision for the new states, then any new state would have fewer rights than the original ones. Henry Clay, a congressman, played an important role in negotiating a solution known as the Missouri Compromise. It had two parts. First, Missouri would be admitted into the U.S. as a slave state and would be balanced by the admission of Maine, a free state. Second, slavery was to be excluded from all new states in the Louisiana Purchase north of Missouri. Congress drew a line across the U.S. along the southern border of Missouri. People on both sides thought the compromise was very flawed. Nevertheless, it lasted for over 30 years. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act said that new states north of the boundary could choose slavery. "Filled me with terror"In the Missouri Compromise, slave states were using the ideas of democracy and a state's right to justify slavery. But slavery went against the American belief in equality. The Missouri crisis exposed a big problem in America that would later explode in a civil war. As Thomas Jefferson said about the Missouri crisis, "This momentous question, like a fire-bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror," as he was terrified it would destroy the country.African-Americans obviously were against expanding slavery in the West. News of the argument in Congress circulated widely within slave communities. Denmark Vesey was a free black minister living in Charleston, South Carolina. He quoted the Bible as well as congressional debates to denounce slavery at his church. Vesey helped organize a slave rebellion in 1822. They planned to capture Charleston long enough for its black population to escape to the free black country of Haiti. The rebellion was betrayed just days before it was set to begin. Thirty-five of its organizers were executed, including Vesey, and his church was destroyed. Divisions lead to slave rebellionsBy now, anti-slavery feelings were building in the North and African-Americans were actively rebelling in the South. Slaveholders were on the defensive. As one white Charlestonian complained, "By the Missouri question, our slaves thought, there was a charter of liberties granted them by Congress." African-Americans knew that Southern whites would not give them their freedom. However, they recognized that the divide between North and South was growing larger. The battle over western expansion led to more slave rebellions. The largest was Nat Turner's Virginia Slave Revolt in 1831.Cornell Notes508010508010Topic:_________________Name: ___________________________________Class: _________________ Period: ________Date: ___________________________Essential Question:How did the events of the 1800s cause tensions between the North and South?Questions:Missouri Compromise: Level 2:Problem: U.S was expanding westward and the question was…Debate: Level 2:Compromise: Level 3: 2. Result: Key Words1)2)3)4)Summary:Cornell NotesTopic:____________________508010508010Name: ___________________________________Class: _________________ Period: ________Date: ___________________________Essential Question:How did the events of the 1800s cause tensions between the North and South?Questions: Level 2:Level 2:Level 3:Key Words1)2)3)4) ................
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