Missouri+Compromise

Missouri Compromise Debate over whether to allow slavery in Western territories seeking statehood erupted when Missouri sought admission as a slave state in 1918. Does the federal government: • Have no right to limit slavery in the West, because any action by Congress to overrule the popular will of a territory seeking statehood is a violation of states' rights? (PRO) • Have the right to restrict slavery in federal territories seeking admission into the Union based on several constitutional provisions and firm legal precedent? (CON)

pro: The enslavement of African Americans betrays fundamental principles of human liberty upon which the U.S. was founded

pro: Thus, the federal government has the authority to limit that immoral institution based on several constitutional provisions and firm legal precedent

pro: Besides, Congress is not threatening to limit slavery in existing states or even the status of existing slaves in Missouri ; it only insists upon a path of gradual emancipation in territories within its jurisdiction

pro:Opening up the West to slavery would have many dreadful moral consequences, supporters of federal antislavery efforts contended

pro:we were willing to compromise and you still argued