AP US History in 1 Minute Daily: The Missouri Compromise (Day 97/309)

Welcome to today’s explanation of the Missouri Compromise in my series- APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!

Independence Day Celebration in Centre Square, Philadelphia, Wikimedia Commons

The period from 1815 to 1825 has been called the Era of Good Feelings due to the flourishing nationalism and optimism after the War of 1812. However, not so subtly rising were issues of sectionalism. 

Missouri Compromise, Wikimedia Commons

With the acquisition of new western lands, territories increasingly sought statehood in the early 1800s. Politicians attempted to preserve a balance of power between northern and southern states.

Missouri Compromise, Library of Congress

When Missouri applied for statehood in 1817 as a slave state, debate ignited in Congress. Henry Clay proposed a compromise that would admit Missouri as a slave state, admit Maine as a free state, and prohibit slavery in the rest of the Louisiana territory north of Missouri’s southern border.

Henry Clay, 1818, Wikimedia Commons

Clay's compromise briefly eased sectional tensions and maintained political equilibrium for the next three decades, but it revealed a flaw in labeling the era as the "Era of Good Feelings."

In 1820, the Missouri Compromise granted statehood to both Missouri and Maine, and imposed a federal ban on slavery in other territories, highlighting escalating sectional conflicts in the U.S.

Join me tomorrow as I explain the Election of 1824 in the next APUSH in 1 Minute Daily!