Missouri applied for state hood in 1817. The petit Essay

ion did not call for the emancipation of slaves nor did it call for the halt of further introduction of slaves into Missouri. There were already 2,000-3,00 slaves in Missouri at the time. It was brought to Congress two years later in 1819 where sectional fears arose. Northerners resented the fact that the presidency was controlled by the south and that the south had added weight in the House and in the Electoral College due to the three-fifths clause. But the north soon built up a decisive majority in the House. The south feared that this would cause friction between the necessary balance of powers of the sections. In February 1819, James Tallmadge of New York proposed an amendment to the State-hood Bill that would ban the further introduction of slaves into Missouri and require steps to be taken to gradually eliminate slavery totally. The House approved Tallmadges amendment but the Senate voted it down, thus the issue remained unresolved until December of 1819 when the new Congress convened. The Federalist leader Rufus King of New York who stated that Congress could require restrictions on slavery within the states led the debate in the Senate. Southern Senators saw this a denying Missouri of its basic freedoms (property) and was an attack on equality among states and that Northerners were trying to upset the balance of powers. In an attempt to resolve the situation, Senate voted in February 1820 to couple the admission of Missouri as a slave state with that of Maine as a free state. This would keep the ratio of slave to free states equal in the Union. Further amendments passed prohibiting slavery north of the 36-30 parallel and allowing south of the parallel. This amendment was rejected in the House until Henry Clay from Kentucky broke the proposal into three separate bills that eventually won House approval. However the measure of Missouri framing a constitution and becoming a slave state passed 90-87 with northern opposition. It was concluded that a major sectional crisis had been avoided but had ominous overtones.