US History › Section F · Westward expansion and the cotton South › Topic F.2

The Missouri Crisis

When Missouri asked to join the Union in 1819, a routine statehood bill turned into the first great national fight over the spread of slavery. The compromise that ended it held for a generation, but it drew a line across the map that sectional politics never forgot.

In this topic

  • A routine request becomes a crisis
  • The Tallmadge Amendment
  • Representation and the three-fifths clause
  • Worked example: why the Senate balance mattered
  • The arguments in Congress
  • The Missouri Compromise of 1820
  • A second crisis over citizenship
  • Worked example: Jefferson's fire bell
  • Why the crisis mattered
  • Common mistakes to avoid
  • Key takeaways

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