union, were Missouri and Maine. Missouri wanted to join the union in the in the north, but as a slave state. this would make the balance of power in congress unequal. Many northerners opposed this idea. Northerners proposed that Missouri be a slave state and that no more slaves were to be brought in, and all slave children would be free at age 25. Eventually Missouri would be a free state. Southerners were opposed to this idea. Congress debated for months. This brought about the Missouri Compromise of 1820, when Henry Clay proposed that Maine enter the union as a free state. He also proposed prohibiting slavery above the 3630 latitude, which is the southern boundary of Missouri. Since plantations would not be able to survive further north of this line, the South agreed. Another minor step leading to the war, was a disagreement over tariffs on imports and exports. In 1828 a tariff was passed that tried to help New England manufacturers. The tariff was as high as 45% to 50% of the original European prices. The north wanted the higher tariffs so that their products could compete on the same level as foreign products which were much cheaper. Opponents of the tariff called it the tariff of abomination. Southerners strongly opposed the tariff because they exported cotton and other materials to Europe, in exchange, European goods were imported to America. Southerners claimed it was an indirect tax on their region of the United States. The north did not need to buy as many foreign products as the south because they were self-sufficient. They began to ask for individual state rights. South Carolina went as far as to ask for the tariff to be removed from them or they would succeed. The tariff was lowered. After the United States won the war with Mexico, it meant more land, but the Missouri Compromise of 1820 only dealt with the Louisiana Territory. In 1864, David Wilmont, of Pennsylvania, proposed an answer. His p...
