Missouri Compromise

Congressional act associated with the slavery debate associated with the admittance of Missouri as a member of the Union.  Missouri’s 1819 request for statehood challenged the attempt to keep the number of free and slave States evenly divided.  The Missouri Compromise of 1820 granted Missouri’s request for admission to the Union, provided that Maine would also be admitted as a free State so as not to upset the balance between free and slave States.  The act also included an amendment that drew a line across the western region of the country, establishing a new boundary between free and slave States and territories.  The amendment was later negated by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.