THE

MISSOU
RI
COMPROMIS
E First
Americas
Slavery Debate

OF STATES

Photo by Alan Light

ADMISSI
ON

The Pledging Process

New States may be admitted

by the Congress into this
Union

U.S. Constitution (Art. 4)Photo by Libido Lounge

181
9

Missouri
applies for
admission
into the
Union as a
SLAVE

Icon by Ted Grajeda

The Noun Project

Tallmadge
Amendment

"And provided, That the

further introduction of
slavery or involuntary
servitude be prohibited
and that all children born
within the said State,
after the admission
thereof into the Union,
shall be free at the age of
twenty-five years."

1819

Rep. James
Tallmadge
(R- NY)

Tallmadge
Amendment

1819

Missouri can be admitted to

the Union upon accepting

GRADUAL
EMANCIPATION

Rep. James
Tallmadge
(R- NY)

PARIT
Y

Slave States
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
South Carolina
Virginia
North Carolina
Kentucky
Tennessee
Louisiana
Mississippi

Balance Between
Slave and Free
States

Free States
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois

PARIT
Y

Balance Between
Slave and Free
States

1820 1850

TRAJECTOR
Y

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Northwest Ordinance
1787

SLAVERY OUTLAWED
in Northwest Territories

Some rights reservedbyNational Museum of American

18
19

Alabama
admitted as
a SLAVE

STATE
without
fanfare.

Icon by Ted Grajeda

The Noun Project

Photo by
James Willamor

PARIT
Y

Slave States
Delaware
Georgia
Maryland
South Carolina
Virginia
North Carolina
Kentucky
Tennessee
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama

Balance Between
Slave and Free
States

Free States
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois

Bicameralis
m

Passed

witho
ut

Tallmadge
Amendme
nt

SENATE

HOUSE

Photo by Martin Falbisoner

Bicameralis
m

Passed

witho
ut

Tallmadge
Amendme
nt

SENATE

Passed

with

Tallmadge
Amendme
nt

HOUSE

Photo by Martin Falbisoner

Bicameralis
m

Passed

witho
ut

Tallmadge
Amendme
nt

SENATE

CONFERENC
E

Passed

with

Tallmadge
Amendme
nt

HOUSE

Photo by Martin Falbisoner

HENRY

CLAY
U.S. Senator
(Kentucky)

THE

GREAT
COMPROMISE
R

Clays proposal
Admit Missouri as
a
Slave State.
Admit Maine as a
Free State.
Prohibit slavery
in the territories of
the Louisiana
Purchase north of
the 3630
parallel.

Bicameralis
m

Passed

WITH

Passed

WITH

Clays
Compromi
se
Proposal

Clays
Compromi
se
Proposal

SENATE

HOUSE

Photo by Martin Falbisoner

363
0

SLAVERY

363
0
Map Credit: Golbez

HAPPILY

EVER
AFTER

nope

THE SAGE
of
Monticello
Thomas Jefferson to John Ho
lmes
22 April 1820

This
momentous
question,
like a fire
bell in the
night,
awakened
and filled me
with
terror

I
considere
d it at
once as
the knell
of the
Union.

KNEL

n. the sound of a bell,

especially when rung
solemnly for a death or
Photo by Vladimer Shioshvili
funeral.

It is hushed indeed for the

moment. but this is a
reprieve only, not a final
sentence. a geographical
line, coinciding with a
marked principle, moral and
political, once conceived and
held up to the angry
passions of men, will never
be obliterated; and every

I can say with conscious truth that

there is not a man on earth who would
sacrifice more than I would, to relieve
us from this heavy reproach, in any
practicable way.

Johnson Eastman, The Lord is My Shepherd

(1863)

A general emancipation and

expatriation could be effected:
and, gradually, and with due
sacrifices, I think it might be.

Johnson Eastman, The Lord is My Shepherd

(1863)

Auribus teneo lupum

20 Latin Phrases You

Should Be Using (Mental
Floss)
Photo by Neil McIntosh

Michelle Mikiefsky
Used With
Permission
http://windward.hawaii

I regret that I am now to

die in the belief that the
useless sacrifice of
themselves, by the
generation of 76. to
acquire self government
and happiness to their
country, is to be thrown
away by the unwise and
unworthy passions of

My only consolation is to be
that I live not to weep over
it. if they would but
dispassionately weigh the
blessings they will throw
away against an abstract
principle more likely to be
effected by union than by
scission, they would pause
before they would
perpetrate this act of

ANTEBELLU
M
1820-1860

A South Carolina Perspective

During the debate,

Charles Pinckney (SC)
defended slavery as a
positive good.
Pinckneys opinions did not hold much
water outside of South Carolina at the
time, but as Northerners continued to
criticize slavery, more Southerners
began to defend the institution.

Pinckneys Speech

Pinckney

LETS

REVIEW
Admit Missouri as
a
Slave State.
Admit Maine as a
Free State.
Prohibit slavery
in the territories of
the Louisiana
Purchase north of
the 3630
parallel.