The Missouri Compromise Line

What was the Missouri Compromise Line and when was it established?

The Missouri Compromise Line, established in 1820, temporarily maintained the balance between slave and free states

At what latitude was the Missouri Compromise Line drawn?

The line was drawn at latitude 36°30’, the limit of Missouri’s southern border

What did the Missouri Compromise Line represent?

It represented the northern limit of slavery in the United States

How did Thomas Jefferson describe the Missouri Compromise?

Jefferson described it as a "firebell in the night”

By 1819, what proportion of the nation’s slaves lived in Virginia and what issue did this cause?

Around ⅓ of the nation's 1.5 million slaves existed in Virginia, "whose exhausted fields could provide labour for only a fraction of that number"

Who argued that Virginia’s “exhausted fields could provide labour for only a fraction of that number"

Robert Forbes