Missouri Compromise

Republicans now viewed the Court as controlled by the Slave Power. The Southern Democrats are convinced that they could not trust their party’s most popular northern leader. The reputation of the Supreme Court sank to the lowest level in all of American history. The Dread Scott decision contradicted the Missouri compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 because it said that Congress possessed no power under the Constitution

It can be argued that the Missouri Compromise not only put off the start of the Civil War, but was also a cause. Many contributing factors led up to the Civil War in the years following the passing after the Missouri Compromise. Years after the Missouri Compromise went into effect, Congress passed the Tariff Act of 1833, sometimes called the Compromise Tariff. This was proposed by Henry Clay, and called for the gradual reduction of tariffs, ending the Nullification Crisis. In 1846, United States’ President James Polk requested 2 million dollars to purchase land from Mexico following the Mexican-American War.

Around the presidential election of 1824, the presidential candidates -John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and Andrew Jackson- took part in the “Corrupt Bargain”, an alliance made between Adams and Clay in order to secure Adams’ presidency. During the Electoral College, Jackson received 99 votes in front of Adams who received 84 votes, while Jackson did receive more votes, he had not gotten a majority of votes, so the House of Representatives were to choose the next president. The spokesman of the House of Representatives, Henry Clay, was to choose between the two candidates. Instead of choosing for the sake of the country, Clay chose to help himself, as Adams had offered him a position as the secretary of state. After Adams’ presidency was secured,

The Missouri Compromise was a significant turning point in United States history, it lead to many discussions on slaves civil rights, the Dred Scott decision, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. In a sense, the Missouri Compromise impaired the unity of the United States and was the original fuel for the civil war. As states were expanding westward after the Louisiana Purchase, so was the debate of slavery. The North did not rely on slavery because it was unprofitable after the American Revolution.

“But this momentous question, like a fireball in The night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union” (Jefferson). This is from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Holmes in 1820 talking about the issue of slavery and the Missouri Compromise, and Thomas Jefferson was afraid that the Congress may keep on compromising to satiate the south’s want for slavery. The people in the north and the south kept I arguing till the Civil War, whether slavery should be continued or if they should get rid of this abominable institution, but Henry Clay did not want there to be a civil war so he helped write a compromise to keep the peace between the feuding halves of America dreaming that peace would be achieved. Even though many people in the south of America through the Missouri Compromise of 1820 would be beneficial, it ultimately failed, and it only postponed

The Election of 1824 was a divided one, as the candidates, Jackson, Adams, Crawford, nor Clay won the majority of the popular vote although Andrew Jackson received the most votes, electoral and popular. Due to the 12th amendment, the House of Representatives were given the right to choose between the three candidates with the highest numbers of electoral votes. Since Henry Clay got the least amount of votes, he was not considered. Although Clay was out of the running, he supported Adams, due to his rivalry with Jackson. With Clay’s support, Adams was able to win the Election of 1824.

missouri as a slave or free state would majorly disrupt the balance of the U.S.'s free vs. slave areas (surfacing debate over if slavery should be permitted at all in America). The compromise prevented any further expansion of pro-slave territories as well as fortified the Fugitive Slave Law. The forced the non-slaveowners tp participate in slavery.

Just four years before, he had lost the presidential election to Adams narrowly, but this time was different. In the election of ‘28, Adams’s numbers didn’t even threaten Jackson’s. He was inaugurated in March of 1829, and jumped right into commanding the nation. Jackson was infamous for vetoing just about anything Congress brought to him, replacing his Old Hickory nickname with “King Jackson l”. This negative nickname was given to him by his biggest opponents and critics: the Whig party.

The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt by the U.S Congress to settle divisive issues between the North and South, including slavery expansion, apprehension in the North of fugitive slaves, and slavery in the District of Columbia. The Compromise of 1850 failed because Senator John C. Calhoun from the South and Senator William Seward from the North could not agree on what Henry Clay was putting down. Part of the compromise was to make California a slavery free state which benefits the North, and enforcing a stricter fugitive slave law which benefits the South. Both the North and South opposed what the other was benefiting from. What sparked the failure of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

1. The resolve over the Oregon and Texas disputes began with the “joint occupation” treaty in 1818, this allowed Britain and United States to both claim authority in the Northwest. This was the initial resolve amongst settlers from either nation. Because the large amount of settlers coming in to the Northwest in the 1840s. This caused an urgency for the United States government to solidify Americas Regions.

Andrew Jackson’s popularity, saying that he was the “man of the people”, and the mudslinging of John

Andrew Jackson’s status as a national war hero came with a great amount of popularity and many people suggested that he run for president. Although, he eventually did run, he had no interest to in the beginning. By 1824, his supporters had gained enough recognition to get him a nomination and a seat in the U.S. Senate. Jackson beat the other contestants in the popular vote, but for the electoral votes, nobody won the majority and the House of Representatives were called to make the decision, ultimately choosing John Quincy Adams. Fast forward four years and Andrew Jackson ran again for president, but the outcome was very different;

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an attempt by Congress to ease some of the political rivalries between the North and the South (history.com 2009). The compromise stated the fact that all states up north would not have slavery and all states south would allow and continue the act of slavery (history.com 2009). It went both ways since it split the country up evenly between slave and free. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was handwritten by Henry Clay in 1820 (ancestralfindings.com 1995). On March 6th of 1820, President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise and made it the new law of the land (loc.gov 2017).

This election started the great rivalry amongst political candidates. When the votes were tallied, it turned out that Jackson won the popular vote; but no one won majority amongst electors. Therefore, via the Twelfth Amendment in the Constitution, the decision was left to the House of Representatives. In 1825, The House elected John Quincy Adams through the help of Jackson’s arch-enemy, Henry Clay. As speaker of the House, Clay used his influence and threw his support for Adams, by telling House representatives it was necessary to have Adams in the White House; although Adams and Clay was apart of the losing party from both the popular and electoral vote.

However, the Missouri Compromise caused some problems. The compromise equaled the concerns and interests in the North and South, but the South was upset about how Congress gave itself the power to create and pass laws dealing with slavery. Much of the North was upset because Congress let slavery spread into another state. There were people who didn’t want to compromise, and others who did, such as Henry Clay.