The Missouri Compromise: Arkansas and Louisiana

The results of this defeat were immense; but still more fraught with evil was the second defeat which the North suffered at the same time, and almost, indeed, without a struggle. . Since only the northern part of Missouri Territory was to be organized as a State, the southern part, the so-called Arkansas district, had to receive a Territorial government of its own When the bill concerning this came up for discussion in the House, Taylor proposed an amendment in regard to slavery like the one which Tallmadge had brought up in the case of Missouri. In committee of the whole the amendment was rejected by eighty to sixty-eight votes. In the House it had a some-what better fate. The first part, which forbade the further introduction of slaves, was rejected by seventy-one to seventy votes; but the second part, which freed slave children born in the Territory upon their twenty-fifth birthday, was adopted by seventy-five to seventy-three votes. With the help of parliamentary rules, however, the question was brought once more before the House. By the casting vote of the Speaker, Clay, the bill was referred back to the committee, and on the same day, in accordance with its report, the previously adopted amendment was rejected by eighty-nine to eighty-seven votes.

The attempt to lay hand upon the peculiar institution in this Territory was regarded by the slave-holders as an especial bit of spitefulness, because Arkansas was regarded as belonging to the peculiar domain of the South. This opinion influenced some Northern representatives, and to it the easy victory of the South is to be ascribed. .

The eighth section of the Missouri act of March 6, 1820, provided "that in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36 deg 30' north latitude, not included within the limits of the State contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude .. shall be, and is hereby forever prohibited." This was the second half of the so-called Missouri Compromise, and the responsibility for its adoption does not wholly rest upon a few weak or venal delegates from the North. Only five Northern members voted against it. The North thus gave its approval by an overwhelming majority to the division of the Territories between free labor and slavery. It was indeed only declared that slavery should not be allowed north of 36 deg 30', but this was self-evidently equivalent to saying that south of this line no hindrance would be put in the way of the slave-holders. The first suggestion of such a compromise was made by McLane in February, 1819, and he then expressly declared that the Territories should be "divided" between the free and slave States. It was never afterwards denied that this was a fair interpretation of the compromise. The action of the Northern members can be justified from no point of view. Even in mitigation of their fault it can only be alleged that when they had decided to make a bargain the one agreed upon did not seem disadvantageous, provided men did not look beyond the present time. The Louisiana territory -- according to the boundaries set to it by the United States -- was divided into two nearly equal parts by the line of 36 deg 30'. But, while the Missouri question was still pending, an agreement was reached with Spain concerning the boundary-line by which a great part of the southern half was lost to the United States.

The result of this compromise was that the country was practically divided into free and slave sections, upon a fixed geographical basis. Though there was nothing in the bill to declare that slavery should exist everywhere south of the line of demarcation, it had become a tacit bargain which was not likely to be successfully questioned.

The South had allowed itself to pursue a purely idealistic policy where European relations were concerned, but where the interest of the slave-holders was touched upon it had followed from the beginning a policy that was not only realistic in the highest degree, but wise. It took good care to demand everything forthwith. What it needed at the moment satisfied it for the moment. It propped the planks securely, and then shoved them just so much farther that it could safely take the next step when it became necessary. It had done this at present, and therefore was contented for the present. Up to this time the free States had always been one more in number than the slave States. Now the latter got Alabama and Missouri into the Union, and the former only Maine. The balance of power in the Senate was therefore fully established. Their territorial possessions were, in the mean time, ample; Florida, just acquired from Spain, Arkansas and the rest of the southern part of the Louisiana territory, balanced for a while the northwest, which, as Charles Pinckney wrote, had been inhabited until now only by wild beasts and Indians. Why express alarm now over things which could become realities only after the lapse of many years? But it did not follow from this that alarm should never be expressed over them. Reid of Georgia had already asked why a partition-line should not be drawn between the two sections "to the Pacific Ocean.". .