Premium Essay

The Missouri Compromise

Submitted By
Words 743
Pages 3
Federalism is the sharing of power between the central government and the state government. In the 19th century, the Northern and Southern Americans could not decide if slavery should be legal. The southern states were made up of a lot of farmland, and those that lived in the south were mainly farmers. Due to the majority of farms being in the south, most Southerners were in favor of slavery because they needed cheap help with labor on their farms. The northerners were more split on the issue of slavery. Because they did not need slave labor as much, some northerners felt indifferent about slavery. Others, especially after the publishing of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” felt that slavery was inhumane and morally corrupt. The Missouri Compromise was …show more content…
The logistics of the Missouri Compromise became somewhat confusing in the situation that a slave shall escape their owner and cross state borders. If a slave escaped to a free state, could a resident of the free state help them find shelter and care? This question was answered by the fugitive slave act. The Fugitive Slave Act declared that any citizen caught helping a fugitive or escaping slave, would be tried as an accomplice. With both the Northern and Southern states feeling strongly about their stances on slavery, no law could be passed for the outlawing or allowing of slavery. This blockage of law is due to federalism. The concept of federalism was implemented into the American Constitution, stating that “Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States.” This means both the House of Representatives and the Senate must both vote to pass a bill in order for it to be considered by the president and then possibly be implemented. On the legality of abortion in the 21st century, the federal government should have the power to permit or criminalize …show more content…
A humanitarian issue is, according to Iberdrola, “a generalized emergency situation that affects an entire community or a group of people in a region, which involves high levels of mortality or malnutrition, the spread of disease and epidemics and health emergencies.” Abortion affects around a million people every year. In 2023 alone, 1,026,690 pregnancies were terminated. The biggest argument against the legalization of abortions has to do with morals. Many see abortion as killing a child; the most horrible thing one could do. This makes abortion a topic that affects so many U.S. citizens and has extremely high levels of morality involved. When it comes to issues directly involving more than a million U.S. citizens, the federal government needs to take action. On the other hand, the legality of marijuana in the 21st century should be an issue for the state government to decide. Unlike abortion, marijuana is not a humanitarian issue. Marijuana is commonly referred to as a recreational

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Missouri Compromise

...The effectiveness of political compromise in reducing sectional tensions was very poor, as demonstrated by the Missouri Compromise, the compromise of 1850, and the Kansas Nebraska act. These compromises created very little help in trying to repair the tensions. One of the first compromises to try to loosen the tensions was the Missouri Compromise. It all started when Missouri was pushing to become a state. At this time the controversy between having slave vs free states was major. There were 11 free states and 11 slave states. This was an even balance for the North and the South so, having Missouri come in as a free state would grant the North more power over the South. The politician Henry Clay came up with the grand idea of admitting another state, (Maine) as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. At the time this seemed brilliant, but really it still failed to loosen the tensions. This is shown when it is repealed by the Kansas Nebraska Act in...

Words: 580 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Missouri Compromise

...The tension between the North and the South grew rapidly in the 19th century. The Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas Nebraska Act are just some of the events that contributed to this. The reason that this tension grew was because during these events, the North and South had different views on the events. Sometimes the South would agree but the North would disagree and that caused problems. The Missouri Compromise was the starting point for this rapid growth. It took place in 1820 and permitted Maine to be admitted into the union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. When this happened, it maintained the balance of the Senate. Now, southern slave owners have a clear right to pursue escaped fugitives that went...

Words: 808 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Missouri Compromise

...Textbook Questions set # 4 11/4/10 11. Chapter 10 Page 396 The Missouri Compromise, 1820- The Missouri Compromise in 1820 was an agreement between the North and South in which it allowed Missouri to be admitted as the twenty-fourth state. The compromise made it legal to own slaves for the southern border only. This will be the beginning of the debate over slavery that led to the civil war. 12. Chapter 11 Page 430 The Indian Removal, 1820-1840- After the election of 1828, one of Andrew Jackson’s goals was to remove the Indians. Jackson wanted the Indians to move westward toward Oklahoma, so he passed the Indian removal act. Most tribes including; Choctaws, Seminoles, and Chickasaws did not argue and agreed to move west. The Cherokees however believed that they had a right to a state government and saw Georgia’s new law as unconstitutional. Therefore the Cherokees had to be forced to move. This began the trail of tears where four-thousand Cherokees died of hunger, cold temperatures, and diseases. After the act took place, more than fifty-thousand Indians had been removed and twenty- five million acres of land were now open. 14. Chapter 14 Page 539 Wagon Trails West- The western wagon trails started out as settlers heading west for new trade opportunities with Mexico. An example of a wagon trail in the west was the Santa Fe Trail. Here travelers sought to go to Oregon and California. Like the other settlers traveling different western trails, those on...

Words: 417 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Missouri Compromise Causes

...The cause for the Missouri Compromise to pass was by the Congress who wanted to disable the exclusive conflicts caused by the desire of Missouri for acceptance as a state authorized slavery in late 1819. The Missouri Compromise was made between the Northern, anti-slavery states, and Southern, pro-slavery states, to keep the conflicting states evenly numbered. This compromise assisted the balance between the two different sides. The southern slaveholding states did not want to turn out opposition as they would lose the power to preserve their commitments of slavery. The cause of this compromise was that Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state in 1819, but northern anti-slavery minorities in Congress were against it. The state of...

Words: 267 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Dbq Missouri Compromise

...A major problem that led to the civil war was slavery, southerners have gained access to more territory and their economy solely depended on slaves. And there have always been argument between the North and Southern states if slavery should be retained or abolished. Their fights were mainly on economics, politics, and power. The Northerners were worried if the slave issue is not taken care of slaves would take jobs white workers might be hired to do. Prior to the Missouri Compromise, Missouri’s application to join the states as a slave state ignited a lot of arguments. Eventually leading to the Missouri Compromise. In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act completely challenged the Missouri Compromise, it violated the compromise which had kept the...

Words: 384 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Essay On Missouri Compromise

...Missouri Compromise of 1820 In 1819, Missouri requested statehood, and the freedom to become a slave state. This set off a heated debate, as the twenty two states then part of the union were evenly divided eleven and eleven between free and slave. While northerners, in accordance with their plan to slowly kill off slavery by not allowing new states to be free, were against the idea of Missouri being a slave state, while Southerners used a state's rights argument. They reasoned that, like the original thirteen states, new states should be able to decide the issue of slavery for themselves. In the end, both sides reached a compromise. In the immediate future, so the states were not unbalanced, Maine became a free state, and going forward no state north of the...

Words: 1469 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Case Summary: Dred Scott V. US

...Dr. John Emerson took his slave, Dred Scott, from Missouri to Illinois and Minnesota where they resided from 1834 to 1838. Illinois and Minnesota are located in the territory north of 36° 30' and identified as free states under the Missouri Compromise. Scott returned to Missouri in 1838 and years later, Dr. Emerson died. Scott brought suit against Emerson’s widow in the Missouri courts, claiming his residency in free territory changed his status to free. The lower court decided in favor of Scott, but in 1852, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the decision. Scott’s ownership was transferred to John Sanford, the brother of Mrs. Emerson’s new husband. The family filed a suit on Scott’s behalf against Sanford in the U.S. Circuit Court in Missouri, where Scott appealed to the Supreme Court on a writ of error. The ruling in the U.S. Circuit Court in Missouri was in favor of Sanford. Scott brought suit to the Supreme Court to decide on his status of citizenship and the rights he could receive from the Constitution. Issue Is a slave who was taken into free territory able to become a United States citizen and receive rights from the Constitution? Rule...

Words: 550 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Causes Of The Missouri Compromise

...American Revolution, the issue of slavery was not resolved but continued due to the U.S Government’s policies, state conflicts, and social disputes. Compromises such as Missouri, 1850, and 3/5’s were contradicted by other policies such as Dred Scott and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The Missouri Compromise (docC) was an example of how the U.S. government tried to resolve issues concerning differences in opinions concerning slavery. There was a dispute over whether or not Missouri should enter as a slave state or a free state. A similar occurrence happened in further West during the Wilmot Proviso (docE). In both situations the government tried to find a simple fix rather than instilling a consolidated solution. Many southerners, such as Thomas Jefferson (docD), disagreed with the Missouri Compromise because they seen it as a poor decision made by the federal government when it should be a state issue....

Words: 403 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Missouri Controversy

...In November of 1818, Missouri petitioned Congress for statehood and ignited a controversy over slavery and a balance of power in the Senate that would span two sessions of Congress and threaten the dissolution of the Union and a civil war. Prior to the Missouri question, the Union had eleven free states and eleven slave states, each with two Senators. The Missouri Territory, carved out of land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, covered an expanse of land just north of the Ohio River and just west of the Mississippi (these rivers joined in the southeastern corner of the territory). According to the terms of the Ordinance of 1787, which prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory, the Missouri Territory was designated a free territory, but many of the settlers had brought their slaves with them when they settled the area and were determined to enter the Union as a slave state. With the growing abolitionist sentiment in the North and the South pressing to legalize slavery, permitting Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state would tilt the power of the Senate in favor of the South and make the realization of legalizing slavery more attainable. Since 1809, the issue of slavery had been relatively quiet, but Missouri’s request to enter the Union as a slave state just at the nation was beginning to expand westward, thrust the question of slavery back into the spotlight of national politics. A set of compromises, known as the Missouri Compromise of 1820, allowed Congress...

Words: 2749 - Pages: 11

Free Essay

American History

...great idea of expanding the nation. The Missouri Compromise had divided the slave states and the free states once and for all. Sectionalism, placing the interests of one region ahead of the welfare of the nation as a whole, offers two great examples in which the country was split. The National Bank, which was proposed by Alexander Hamilton, brought up a lot of controversy in the south, as well as in the west. Not only did the National Bank disgruntle the southerners, but the Tariff of 1816, proposed by James Madison, did as well. Sectionalism challenged nationalism, but the latter remained strong among the American people. On December 2, 1823, President Monroe addressed a message to congress. In his message, James Monroe was informing the powers of the Old World that the American continents were no longer open to European colonization. He also stated that the outside powers shall not try to overthrow the newly independent republics in the Western Hemisphere. Any effort to extend European political influence into the New World would be considered by the United States "as dangerous to our peace and safety." At the same time, the United States would not involve itself in European affairs or interfere with existing colonies in the Western Hemisphere. These principles became known as the Monroe Doctrine.  In 1819, settlers in Missouri requested admission to the Union. Its settlers came largely from the South, and it was expected that Missouri would be a slave...

Words: 938 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Branches of Government

...leaders devised constitutional argument to fit their political desires. South Carolina argued the constitution had created" a government of states not a government of individuals.". This led to the Calhoun "doctrine of nullification," when declared that any state had the constitutional right to nullify a national law. The supreme court's infamous Dred Scott decision (1857), written by Chief Justice Roger Taney a statis rights advocate, told the conflict. Dred Scott, a slave that had lived in the North for four years, applied for his freedom when his master had died, citing a federal law the Missouri Compromise of 1820 that made slavery, illegal in a free state or territory. The Supreme Court ruled against Scott, claiming that people of Africian descent were barred from citizenship and thereby could not sue for their freedom in federal courts. The court also invalidated the Missouri Comprimise. The court ruled that slaves were property, not people, and as such could be taken into any state or territory. Accordingly slavery in any part of the United States was justified according to Congreee. Taney Court's decision provoked outrage in the North and led to a sectional split in the nation's majority party, the Democratic....

Words: 306 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

A House Divided

...Primary source study of A Hhouse Divided Our 16th President Abraham Lincoln’s speech later titled “A Hhouse Ddivided” was delivered in front of 1,000 rRepublican delegates after who had voting nominated Abraham Lincoln in as their candidate to the U.S sSenate . An issue causing a rift throughout the nation, slavery was had been disputed since the inception of America. Lincoln not only understood the problems created by slavery at his present time, he also for lack of a better term prophesized the oncoming storm that would ensued from both the disagreements between the opponents and proponents of slavery: . “We are now far into the fifth year, since a policy was initiated, with the avowed object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. A house divided against its self cannot stand." Abraham Lincoln clearly understood the schism that was taking place across the country, though it was considered politically irresponsible by his peers and fellow party members , Lincoln’s resolve to end this bitter dispute would carry America through its darkest days. Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech had a specific purpose for it. He was directing it mainly at the congressmen and the President, and it's purpose was to show them how America was hurting itself by fighting...

Words: 897 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Missouri Compromise Research Paper

...The Missouri Compromise was an agreement in 1820 between the existing states and Congress about slavery. Tension had begun to rise between between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups within the US Congress and the people of the nation. It all boiled up to an insane amount when Missouri requested to become a slave state instead of a free state. This request, if followed through by Congress, would ruin the fragile balance between the existing slave and free states. At that time, there were eleven free states and eleven slave states and disrupting that balance would upset way too many people. To keep the peace between the people and Congress, Congress formulated a two-part compromise. Missouri would get their wish to become a slave state, but in return, Maine would be admitted as a free state. It was a simple trade off that ended up causing more problems than anyone could have seen coming. The second part of the compromise was an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory and established a boundary between the free and slave states. This amendment and land remained this way until the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The extremely rough debate over Missouri's application as a slave state lasted all the way from December...

Words: 510 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Missouri Compromise Research Paper

...In 1820 the state of Missouri became a slave state and Maine became a free state. This event took place to make sure the amount of slave states and free states were equal and it was soon became known as the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise was an important part of American history because it helped keep the union together. Three major people involved were Henry Clay, James Monroe, and Rufus King. Henry Clay played a very big role in the Missouri Compromise. He was born on April 12, 1777 in Virginia and died June 29, 1852 in Washington D.C. Clay was a lawyer, Kentucky Senator, and the speaker of the House of Representatives. While John Quincy Adams was in office Henry also served as his Secretary of State. Henry Clay was...

Words: 348 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

The Civil War: The Missouri Compromise

...The Missouri Compromise settled the question of slavery for many years in the United States. It's repeal would bring so much conflict that it would lead to the Civil War. Missouri applied for statehood on December 18, 1818. This created a huge problem because the Northern states refused to even allow another slave state to join the Union. A compromise developed when Maine applied for statehood in 1819. Maine could join as a free state to balance out Missouri joining as a slave state. By the year 1820, the compromise had been realized. The first step was that Missouri and Maine would be admitted to the Union, one as free and the others as slave. In 1845 the Missouri Compromise was revoked as part of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The revoke was more impactful than the compromise itself. It effectively settled the question of slavery from 1820 to 1854, it's revoke began the sectarian conflict which eventually brought the United States into the Civil War....

Words: 483 - Pages: 2