Missouri Compromise and Corrupt Bargain Lecture

Overview

• Slavery changes by 1819
• Missouri Compromise reveals sectional tensions
• 1820s democracy transformation and consequences
• Jackson and Van Buren founding the Democratic Party
• Supporters of Jackson and Van Buren

Era of Good Feeling

• Single political party: Democratic Republicans
  • Factions within the party with conflicting ideas

Old Republicans

• Limited federal government
• More power to states (state's rights argument)
• Support from southerners
• Blame Panic of 1819 on Tariff of 1816
• Favor free trade, fewer tariffs, and taxes

National Republicans

• Support American system (U.S. Bank, tariffs, federal funding for internal improvements)
• Blame Panic of 1819 on Europe
• Support protective tariffs

Cotton and Slavery

• Pre-1800: Rice and long-staple cotton limited to coast
• Upland/short-staple cotton can be grown inland but hard to process
• Eli Whitney’s cotton gin (1794) revolutionized short-staple cotton processing
• Cotton gin made short-staple cotton production boom
• Cotton suited for slave labor due to year-round tending

Plantation System

• Requires 20 or more enslaved people
• Planters (non-working landowners) vs. yeoman farmers (self-working landowners)
• Spread from South Carolina and Georgia to the Old Southwest (Alabama, Mississippi) and further west
• Represents leading economic institution in the lower south
• Planters controlled significant portion of enslaved population despite their small numbers
• Expansion stifled town and industry growth but was highly profitable

Economic Impact

• South's economy relied heavily on cotton
• U.S. supplied significant raw cotton to England and France
• Continuous increase in cotton demand and steady prices

Political Differences

• Expansion of slavery created political differences between South and West vs. Mid-Atlantic and New England
• Interactive radial cartography showing spread of slavery westward

Missouri Compromise

Context

• Missouri part of Louisiana Purchase, originally assumed inhospitable for slavery
• Slaveholders gained political power in Missouri, sought admission as slave state
• Increased northern resentment over slavery and political power balance

Key Issues

• Missouri forced Congress to discuss federal government’s power over territorial slavery
• Tensions over balance between free and slave states in Senate
• James Tallmadge amendment (1819) aimed to ban slavery in Missouri
• Sectional voting lines led to a stalemate in Congress

Arguments

• Northern argument: Congress has right to restrict slavery before statehood
• Southern argument: Right to choose slavery, equality among states at risk
• Concerns over future of slavery and white privilege
• Talk of secession if Missouri wasn't admitted as slave state

Outcome

• Continued stalemate, leading to the Missouri Crisis
• Prelude to the American Civil War

Next Steps

• Study further on the Missouri Crisis and how it almost led to civil war