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U.S. History 1492-1877 5: The Missouri Compromise 172 Views


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Description:

Today we'll learn about how the Missouri Compromise, in part, led to Captain America and Iron Man engaging in epic an epic battle for...wait a second. Wrong civil war. It just led up to a war between the North and the South. 

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

Historians have devoted their lives to analyzing

00:06

all of the many causes of the Civil War.

00:10

We don't have the time to go into all of them, because…

00:12

well, that Netflix isn't going to binge watch itself.

00:16

Seriously, though...

00:17

It's way too complicated for a short video, but we can zero in on some of

00:19

the big events that leant a helping hand in ripping the country apart.

00:23

In this edition, we'll take a look at the Missouri Compromise.

00:27

Here's the scoop.

00:28

In 1819, American settlers in Missouri were like…

00:31

"Hey, Congress, how 'bout you make us a state?"

00:34

Trouble was that many of the people in Missouri had migrated from

00:38

the South, bringing their slaves with them.

00:40

The region's slave population topped ten thousand.

00:44

So it was pretty clear that the Missourians would also say,

00:47

"Make that a slave state, please."

00:49

At the time, slave and free states were equally divided, 50/50.

00:53

So admitting Missouri into the Union as a slave state

00:56

would give slave states a majority in the Senate, and the North started freaking out.

01:02

New York Congressman James Tallmadge and many

01:05

northern representatives didn't want to see slavery spread into the West.

01:09

So they pitched that statehood be granted under the condition that slavery

01:13

would be gradually abolished within Missouri's borders.

01:17

No new slaves would be allowed to enter, and the children of all

01:20

those already in Missouri would be freed at the age of twenty-five.

01:25

Wow, and all we have to look forward to when we turn twenty-five

01:27

is reduced car rental costs.Yeah, seems like we've got the better end of that deal.

01:32

Well, this type of slavery killing policy was called gradual emancipation.

01:37

It'd been working like a charm since the Revolution in Northern states like

01:40

Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

01:43

This, of course, is what made Southern representatives say,

01:47

"Who do you think you're kiddin'?"

01:49

They knew that after 25 years, free states would have the edge in the Senate.

01:53

So Tallmadge's proposition was dead in the water.

01:56

One year later, Illinois Senator Jesse Thomas designed a compromise

01:59

that he hoped would make everybody happy. ...Except the slaves.

02:03

Missouri would be allowed to be a slave state if it felt like it…which it did.

02:07

But to offset the new slave state, Maine would be admitted to the Union as a free state.

02:12

On top of that, slavery would not be allowed in all remaining territory

02:16

north of the 36º30' parallel, the southern border of Missouri,

02:21

except, of course, within Missouri itself.

02:25

Congress decided that was probably the best idea anybody was going to come

02:28

up with, and voted to adopt Thomas's resolution as the Missouri Compromise.

02:33

The question of the legality of slavery had been successfully postponed yet

02:37

again, but of course it wouldn't last.

02:39

Northern powers opposed to slavery wanted the practice abolished altogether.

02:43

And southern slave owners wanted it expanded like our waist lines during the holidays.

02:48

Speaking of lines…

02:49

This line in the sand between the free North and slave-y South may not have been the best idea.

02:54

Yeah, it did lead to peace for a little while.

02:57

But in the long run, it beefed up regional beefs.

03:00

It was the North versus the South, not the United States.

03:03

Slavery formed the core of the debate, but there was another serious

03:06

issue at stake: the scope of federal power.

03:09

Congressman Tallmadge's proposal would have meant that the

03:12

federal government could place conditions on the creation of state constitutions.

03:17

That's the Feds telling the hippies in California what to do. Not gonna happen.

03:22

Did they really have the authority to do that?

03:24

Well, the Missouri Compromise also left this key question unanswered.

03:28

And as we all know from our training in standardized tests, even if we

03:31

don't know the answer, sometimes it's best to try and bubble in something.

03:36

We usually go for answer B.

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