The Missouri Treaty - Research Paper Example

?The Missouri Compromise Introduction The ‘Missouri’ was first used by Jacques Marquette who was a missionary from France. The Missouri treaty was formed after the victory of Britain over France in 1762, and as a result of the treaty Spain obtained control over the Missouri territory. In 1800 France gained control over Missouri again and sold it out to the United States as a component of the Louisiana Purchase. The Missouri controversy originated during the period 1819-1821 gives a better understanding of the slavery system that prevailed in America. Slavery was a system in which the black men were compelled to live under the command of their masters. Slaves were not paid for their work and they were not permitted to learn to read and write. They were punished harshly for even small mistakes and their life was full of sorrow and misery. The clash between the supporters of the slavery system and the anti slavery faction in the United States reached its peak and in 1920 an agreement has been made between these two political groups in admitting the Missourian territory to be a part of the United States by giving the status of a slave state. This is termed as the Missouri compromise. The growth of Missouri as a State Missouri was a territory purchased by the United States from France in1803. It was a part of the Louisiana territory which was under the French rule and the laws were supporting slavery in this region and she experienced the migration of slave owners from Southern States and from other provinces of Louisiana. Missourians started demanding for the formation of a new state and an entry in to the Union by 1818. During 1870s the Northern states started the exclusion of slavery and the northern lawmakers despised the growth of slavery in other states like Missouri. But the consideration of the plan to grand statehood and an entrance for Missouri to the union raised arguments among the representatives and senators in the congress. Missouri already had more than 2000 slaves and majority of the people demanded the continuation of slavery system but the Northerners were afraid of the spread of slaves to the other states of the union. In 1820 Missouri became the part of the United States with the status of a slave state. It was primarily a political struggle that followed for two years but the evils of slavery were fully considered in the course of discussion1. Beginning of the debate Congress failed to admit the Missourian statehood in 1818 and a second attempt has been made by Tallmadge to change the bill in 1819 who was not at all a supporter of slavery and recommended the formation of a slave free Missouri by adding two clauses to prevent the entry of new slaves to the state and to free the children of the slaves when they become adults. These two clauses paved way for debates among the Lawmakers. Tallmadge never expected the congress to accept suggestions but expected to “have produced moral effects which will eventually (save) our beloved country from disgrace and danger”2. Northerners never supported slavery and the system of considering human beings as property; consequently, they recommended not permitting the slaves of the new state to vote if slavery is allowed there. It was the constitutional duty of the Congress to ensure republican rule in its newly formed states. A few of the lawmakers were not in favour of the abolition of slavery from the existing states but they argued for the removal of slavery from the newly formed states. They were afraid of the spread of slaves to other areas of the Union especially to the Free states which would result in political weakening. Southerners, who were in favour of slavery, opposed all these arguments. They suggested that freedom could be given to the state to take decision over slavery. There were so many ideological factors which separated the southerners and northerners and slavery was one and the foremost among them. Their interests and needs were different. Northerners supported laws which could help production and foreign trade whereas the southerners preferred laws supporting the agricultural society where slavery was inevitable. Southern states were gradually becoming stronger than the Northerners and the latter always looked at the association of slave states to the Union with immense worry3. The compromise of 1820 “Like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union” is the well-known statement by Thomas Jefferson which explains the terrifying face of the Missouri crisis of 18204. He was afraid of the ruin of his dream of a strong and enduring republic in America due to the problem of slavery. These sorts of fears made many to compromise on different issues. In 1787, the first compromise is made immediately after the formation of the Federal Union and the issue was regarding the counting of slaves. The ‘three-fifth’ clause entitled the states of the Union to consider the three-fifth of their slaves to be the part of their population and the population of states was the deciding factor of the number of lawmakers to be selected to the House of Representatives from each state. Southern states of the Union enjoyed the benefit of the five-third clause and they succeeded in sending more members to the House of Representatives by exaggerating their population. On the other hand, the Northerners were not at all interested in considering the slave counts. Southern states demanded a hundred percent addition of the slave count to their population and the ‘three-fifth’ clause was a compromise on which both the southern and Northern states agreed and the former became part of the newly formed nation. The issue of slavery took a rebirth in 1818 as a result of the sudden resolution of the West. Missouri started demanding for an entry to the Union during this period. Majority of the Missourian population were Southerners and they expected the persistence of slavery in their state. James Tallmadge, a lawmaker from New York opposed slavery in the new state and recommended an amendment so as to remove slavery from Missouri. His suggestion resulted in massive arguments among the members of the House and Tallmadge turned unsuccessful to pass his amendment in the Senate. The number of free states and slave states were equal in 1819. A bill towards the formation of Maine as a state was passed in the house in January 1819. Maine possessed characteristics of a northern state and Missouri if acknowledged as a slave state would balance the number of the states and the senators. This became the key factor in the decision making and the senate admitted Missouri as a slave state and the Maine enjoyed the status of Free State. Senator Jessy B. Thomas added a new clause to ban slavery in the remaining areas above 36*30’ north altitude of the territory purchased from France. The Missouri compromise thus had three parts- first part declaring Maine as a Free State, second part acknowledging Missouri as a slave state and the last part proclaiming the ban of slavery in the rest of Louisiana territories. The bill obtained success in the Senate but it failed in the House and as a result of this the Missouri compromise did not turn out to be a law. Henry Clay who was the speaker of the House used a tricky strategy to get the vote. He put the key points of the bill for vote separately which allowed the representatives to vote according to their preference and succeeded in passing the segments of the bill one at a time and he completed the process in 18215. Polity of United states after 1821 Even though Missouri compromise was the most discussed contentious issue during 1820 it added a provision to the constitution of the Union which permitted the entry of free black men and mulattoes to the state. Objections arose among the congressmen against their language and the Northerners demanded an agreement to admit the statehood and that was the removal of the language. Henry Clay made a second attempt by bringing out some changes in the bill. He removed the contested language and added a clause for the indiscrimination of the citizen of other states and the Missourians. Missouri and Maine joined to the United States as a result of Clay’s second negotiation. Missouri compromise did not succeed in ending the clash over slavery; instead, it gave a temporary pause. Addition of new provinces like California as a free state to the Union demanded new compromises with the issue of slavery. The Missouri compromise turned to be irrelevant in 1854 as a result of the introduction of Kansas- Nebraska Act which allowed the formation of two new slave states, Kansas and Nebraska6. Conclusion The Missouri compromise of 1820 possesses different dimensions beyond a clash on the economic benefits. The Congress wanted to maintain balance between the number of members of the Senate from the northern and southern states of the Union and assuring stability of the powers between these political factions. Northern states had more members in the House of Representatives due to the presence of comparatively larger population. But the Senate had equal number of representatives from both the factions. This was the condition prevalent when Missouri demanded an entrance to the Union. There could have been an imbalance in the Senate in favour of the pro-slavery faction if the Missourian demands were accepted and northerners were afraid of the Missourian issue as we could see it in the famous ‘firebell’ statement made by Jefferson. Three clauses were added to the bill in order to solve this issue and maintain the balance of power among the factions. Making a compromise between the two parties is the best technique to solve a dispute. Both of them gets benefited up to a certain extend by giving up some of their preference. This was same in the case of Missouri compromise also. They succeeded in maintaining the equal number of sates on both sides by adding Missouri to slave states and Maine to free sates and by removing the system of slavery from the remaining grounds of the Louisianan territory an thereby providing a solution for the issue. Bibliography Burgan, Michael. The Missouri Compromise. Compass Point Books, 2006. MindSparks. The Missouri Compromise. U.S.A: Social Studies, 2007. Pearson Education. “Missouri Compromise”. Pearson Education, publishing, http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0833427.html (accessed February 21, 2011). Turner, Frederick Jackson. Rise of the New West, 1819-1829. Echo Library, 2006. Read More