Investor Presentaiton
The Missouri Compromise of 1820
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the
size of the United States in 1803. The
land was divided into territories and as
the population of those territories grew,
they could apply to become states.
Alabama and Illinois applied to
become states around the same time.
Both were accepted rather easily.
Illinois was a free state and Alabama
was a slave state. The number of each in
Congress would remain equal.
However, when Missouri applied to become a state, it
threw Congress into months of angry debate. If Missouri
The Louisiana
Purchase
was allowed to enter the Union as a free state, the South would
lose its voting power, and its power to block any anti-slavery bills.
Therefore, southern representatives viciously fought against Missouri
being added to the Union as a free state.View entire presentation