Missouri Compromise Notes

Compromise

An agreement or settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions.

Perseverance of Slavery

The belief in the 18th century that slavery would fade away on its own, countered by the growth of cotton and increased demand for slaves.

Abolition Movement

Early activists concerned with gradual emancipation and black rights in the North.

Southern Diffusion Theory

The argument that selling or moving slaves westward would create better living conditions and potentially lead to emancipation.

The Missouri Compromise

A compromise reached in 1818, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, with a line drawn at latitude 36 degrees 30 to determine where slavery was permitted.

Legacy of the Missouri Compromise

Tensions led to the Compromise of 1850 and the repeal of the Missouri Line by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, ultimately deeming the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional by the 1857 Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford