Legislation1820
Missouri Compromise Signed
President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state while prohibiting slavery north of the 36 30' parallel in the remaining Louisiana Territory. The compromise temporarily eased sectional tensions over slavery's expansion.
Why It Matters
The Missouri Compromise preserved the Union for a generation but demonstrated that the fundamental question of slavery could only be deferred, not resolved, through legislative bargaining.