The Missouri Compromise
Even during the Era of Good Feelings, disagreements between the different regions threatened the Union. One
such disagreement between the industrial North and the agrarian South arose in 1819 when Congress considered
Missouri’s application to enter the Union as a slave state. At the time, the Union had 11 free states and 11 slave states.
Adding a new slave state would have tipped the balance in the Senate in favor of the South.
To protect the power of the free states, the House passed a special amendment. It declared that the United
States would accept Missouri as a slave state, but importing enslaved Africans into Missouri would be illegal. The
amendment also set free the children of Missouri slaves. Southern politicians angrily apposed this plan.
Henry Clay convinced Congress to agree to the Missouri Compromise, which settled the conflict that had
risen from Missouri’s application for statehood. This compromise had three main conditions:
1. Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state.
2. Maine would join the Union as a free state, keeping the number of slave and free states equal.
3. Slavery would be prohibited in any new territories or states formed north of 36°30’ latitude- Missouri’s
southern border.
Congress passed the Missouri Compromise in 1820. Despite the success of the compromise, there were still
strong disagreements between the North and South over the expansion of slavery.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled,
That the inhabitants of that portion of the Missouri
territory included within the boundaries herein after
designated, be, and they are hereby, authorized to form
for themselves a constitution and state government, and
to assume such name as they shall deem proper; and the
said state, when formed, shall be admitted into the Union,
upon an equal footing with the original states, in all
respects whatsoever.
1. What were the inhabitants of the portion of the
Missouri Territory authorized to do in the
Missouri Compromise?
And be it further enacted. That in all that territory ceded 2. Where was slavery “forever prohibited”? What
by France to the United States, under the name of
was to happen to fugitive slaves?
Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and
thirty minutes north latitude, not included within the
limits of the state, contemplated by this act, slavery and
involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment
of crimes, whereof the parties shall have been duly
convicted, shall be, and is hereby, forever prohibited:
Provided always, That any person escaping into the same,
from whom labour or service is lawfully claimed, in any
state or territory of the United States, such fugitive may
be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person
claiming his or her labour or service as aforesaid..
3. Why do you think this Compromise was so
important? Why was it necessary for the slave
and free states to have equal power?
Manifest Destiny
In the mid-1800s, the United States was steadily gaining land further west and further south. John
O’Sullivan, an editor of a well-known newspaper, wrote about our expansion and was credited with coining
the term “manifest destiny”.
John O’Sullivan “The Great Nation of Futurity” 1839
Our national birth was the beginning of a new history, which separates us from the past and connects us
only with the future. We are the nation of progress, of individual freedom, of universal enfranchisement.
Our future history will be to establish on earth the moral dignity and salvation of man – the undeniable truth
and goodness of God. America has been chosen for this mission among all the nations of the world, which
are shut out from the life-giving of truth. Her high example shall put an end to the tyranny of kings, and
carry the happy news of peace and good will to millions who now endure an existence hardly better than
that of beasts in the field. Who, then, can doubt that our country is destined to be the great nation of the
future?
John O’Sullivan “Annexation” 1845
It is time now for all opposition to annexation [takeover of land] of Texas to stop…Texas is now ours. She
is no longer to us a mere geographical space. She is no longer to us a mere country on the map…
The time has come for everyone to stop thwarting [opposing] our policy and hampering [slowing dow] our
power, limiting our greatness and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the
continent allotted [given] by God for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.
1. According to O’Sullivan in “The Great Nation of Futurity”, what does America stand for? What
does he say is America’s mission?
2. If we succeed in this mission, what does O’Sullivan believe we can do for the world?
3. In “Annexation”, what do you think O’Sullivan means by “our manifest destiny to overspread the
continent allotted by God for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.”?
4. After reading these two excepts from O’Sullivan, how do you think most Americans felt about
expanding westward during this time?