How The Divide Between The North And Southern States During The 1800s

In the early 1800s, slavery was a controversial political issue between the northern and southern regions of the United States. Political compromises were necessary to prevent the United States from dividing in two as a result of the nation’s disputes over the slavery issue. Conflict and controversy did nothing but increase, and “Americans in all parts of the country realized that a final showdown was approaching” (Smith 19). Thus, the growing social and economic divide between the North and South had a substantial effect on the United States’ condition during the 1800s. The different regions in the United States during the 1800s were the North, South, and West. The North and South practiced what is known as sectionalism, which is “competition

These two territories were located in the region the United States acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase. Because of the North and South’s diverse position on slavery, the Louisiana Purchase caused much concern among congressman in the nation. Being that members of Congress from the North opposed slavery, they did not want slave states to gain too much power in Congress, so they called for Maine and Missouri to be admitted as free states. Congressmen and senators from the South shared a different position on this issue. They felt that “restrictions upon slavery in new territories went against the Constitution and the terms of the Louisiana Purchase treaty” (Panchyk 72). The final result of much debate and discussion was the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Authored by Henry Clay of Kentucky, the compromise called for Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine, on the other hand, to be admitted as a free state. This section of the Compromise temporarily settled the dispute between the North and South over power in Congress. The Compromise also named a future plan for territories applying for statehood in the Union. It stated that “other than Missouri, slavery would be prohibited in any part of the Louisiana Purchase territory that lay north of Missouri’s southern border” (Panchyk 72). The Missouri Compromise passed into law in 1821, and many worshipped it as the compromise that permanently solved the problem of expansion of slavery in the West. Others, like Thomas Jefferson, felt that new land “signaled the beginning, not the end of conflict” (Smith 26). John Adams, an aged statesmen from the North, said that the Compromise was “the title page to a great tragic volume” (Smith