James Monroe: A Life from Beginning to End (Biographies of US Presidents)

by Hourly History

The Missouri Territory applied to be admitted as a state in 1819. Because most of the white settlers of Missouri either owned slaves or planned to own them, New York Congressman John Tallmadge Jr. proposed to add two amendments, one barring new slaves from going into the state, and the second freeing all of the slaves born after the state’s admission when they achieved their twenty-fifth birthday. The ultimate result was that Missouri would be admitted as a state only if it were a free state. The debate was ferocious and regional; Monroe thought it was unconstitutional to place restrictions on a state’s admission, but he feared that the nation would be split over the issue. Finally, Congress came to a compromise. Maine was admitted as a free state, and Missouri would be admitted as a slave state provided that the south did not object to the nation outlawing slavery in the western territories located above the 36°30′ north latitude. The Louisiana Territory, which would be divided into nine states, would have two slave states in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and free states in the rest. In 1820, the bill was signed.