READ: Slavery and Abolition

Another proslavery argument claimed slaves were treated well and lived better lives than factory workers in the North. In fact, some whites said they provided better lives for slaves than free blacks were able to provide themselves.

When settlers in the slaveholding Missouri Territory sought statehood, proslavery and antislavery politicians made slavery a central issue in national politics.

Missouri Compromise of 1820

The state constitution proposed by Missouri allowed slavery. Because half the states in the union allowed slavery while the other half did not, statehood for Missouri would upset the U.S. Senate's equal balance between proslavery and antislavery senators. This issue was resolved when Congress passed the Missouri Compromise. This said Maine would be admitted to the Union as a free state, Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, and slavery would be prohibited in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase except for Missouri. Once again, half the states would allow slavery while the other half did not, and the Senate would retain its equal balance between proslavery and antislavery senators-until the next state asked to enter the Union.