The Missouri Compromise
In the years leading up to 1820 pro-slavery and anti-slavery tensions rose, the conflict divided the congress, the citizens, and the states. When Missouri requested acceptance to Union as a pro-slave state the tensions were near the breaking point. Missouri would have broken the fragile balance between slave states and free states. The government dedicated to sustain peace in the delicate, young nation, compromised a two part plan. Granting Missouri's pro-slavery but admitting Maine as an anti-slavery state. This compromise drew an imaginary line across the free states and the slave states. This amendment remained intact until it was negated by the Kansas-Nebraska act of 1854. This compromise upset many southerners as it showed that the Government was able to make laws regarding slavery. Three years later the Dred Scott case caused The compromise to be declared unconstitutional.
Map of anti-slavery and pro-slavery states at the time of the Missouri Compromise