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EDUCATION
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A nation divided
Slavery in the territories
View of covered wagons pulled by oxen (Western History/Genealogy
Department, Denver Public Library) |
When settlers arrived in a territory, Congress appointed a governor. The people
could elect a legislature, and when its population reached 60,000, a territory
could apply to Congress to become a state. As America expanded, the idea of
slavery went with it. The Northern states wanted to see all new states entered as
free states, while the Southerners wanted slave states. The overwhelming
question of the time period was whether or not to extend slavery into the
territories.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was the first time the United States had
expanded beyond its original 13 colonies. The Northwest Ordinance
banned slavery, so the Northern states of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois became free
states, while the states south of the Northwest Territory (south of the Ohio
River) allowed slavery. Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, and
Alabama became slave states.
After the Louisiana Purchase, the line between Northern and Southern states was
unclear. In the early 1800s, the line between free state and slave state was the
Mason Dixon line in the original 13 colonies and the Ohio River in the Ohio
River Valley. This began to change after the Louisiana Purchase expanded
America's boundaries west of the Mississippi River. New territories were
formed, which led to states wanting to enter the Union. As new states entered
the United States, Congress tried to maintain the balance between free states
and slave states, so there was equal representation in Congress.
This resulted in a fierce debate when the Missouri Territory asked to join as a
slave state, but it lay half in the North and half in the South. Both sides did not
want the other to gain the advantage. They would solve the problem with the
Missouri Compromise.
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