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There may be no greater example of the struggle to hold together this federal union than by the study of the events leading up to the Compromise of 1850. In 1818, the U.S. Congress was primarily controlled by the Northern States. As a result, the Southern States felt it was imperative to maintain a balance in the Senate to protect their interest. (9)

Destabilization began when the Missouri Territory petitioned for admission to the United States. With a history tied to the Louisiana Purchase and slavery, the admission of Missouri would have broken the balance between the eleven free and eleven slave states. (1)

The driving issue of the time was focused on the procedure for admitting a new states, and whether the U.S. Congress could impose restrictions or prohibitions on that new states. Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution provides that “new states may be admitted by the Congress.” Under this provision, several states had been admitted, but there was little issue paid to slavery. The admission status of these earlier states seemed to be governed by their geographic location or history. But now, Congress
was being called on to determine the status of this new state. (2)

Northern states relied on the constitutional language that Congress “may admit” a state as implying that limitations or restrictions could be imposed on that new state, such as the abolition of slavery. The Southern states argued that Missouri should be admitted unconditionally, just as the other nine states had been admitted since 1799. Henry Clay, U.S. senator from Kentucky, was determined to find a solution.

Earning the title of the “Great Compromiser,” Clay quelled the fiery debate and Maine was admitted as a free state balancing out the admission of Missouri as a slave state.(2) This became known as the Missouri Compromise of 1850 which went on to prohibit slavery above latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes...