In the early 1800s slavery was a big problem. Southern farmers and plantation owners believed it was their right to own slaves. Northern abolitionists believed that slavery should be illegal everywhere. The North and South fought over whether and where slavery should be legal. A man named James Tallmadge proposed an amendment that would end slavery. This bill was opposed by the South and ultimately failed. Then a man named John Taylor tried to pass a similar bill to end slavery as a whole, only to achieve the same result. Both bills failed and with the North and South against each other, it looked like they would separate the nation and cause a war between the North and the South. But then a senator named Henry Clay had an idea . Taking advantage of his position he influenced the house to accept a compromise created by Jesse B. Thomas between what the North and the South wanted. This was called the Missouri Compromise. During late 1819, Missouri wanted to be recognized as a state. This however scared the north as they wanted to be a slave state. Missouri becoming a slave state would disrupt the balance and cause the number of slave states to outnumber free states. The North feared this because it meant that slave states would prevail over free states and give the South the advantage in congress. With the North represented by Senator Rufus King and the South represented by William Pinkney, the convention was debated from December 1819 to March 1820. Fortunately around the same time Missouri applied to become a state, so did Maine. The North saw this opportunity and quickly exploited it to maintain the balance and please the war-ready South. It was implemented in 1...... middle of paper ...... h many slaves managed to escape to free places like Haiti and Canada, others were not so lucky. The Missouri Compromise was still a very successful flawed document that stalled the Civil War for at least thirty years. The compromise framed the westward expansion of slavery. He established many laws regarding slavery that would have prevented Northerners from turning against Southerners and sharing the war even earlier. Ultimately he separated the economic, political, and ethical interests and beliefs of the Northern, Southern, and Western regions of the United States. Although it delayed the Civil War by at least thirty years, it was inevitable. Ultimately the issue of slavery will have to be addressed head on. Slavery would be tolerated everywhere or nowhere. The North had decided that slavery would not be tolerated, and the South had seceded from the United States.