As western territories sought statehood, the expansion of slavery became a national crisis. In 1819, Missouri applied for admission as a slave state. Representative James Tallmadge proposed restricting slavery there, igniting debate over congressional power, sectional balance and the future of the West. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, preserving balance in the Senate. It prohibited slavery in the remaining Louisiana Purchase territory north of latitude 36°30?, except Missouri. The arrangement quieted the immediate crisis but drew a geographic line across the national future. Thomas Jefferson compared the controversy to a “fire bell in the night.” The warning was justified. Each new territory raised the question the founding generation had postponed: would the republic’s expansion enlarge freedom, slavery-or both?
“Compromise postponed the conflict. Expansion kept recreating it.
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