Conference Committee Report on the Missouri Compromise
3/1/1820
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With the purchase of the Louisiana Territory and the application of Missouri for statehood, the long-standing balance between the number of slave states and the number of free states would be changed. Controversy arose within Congress over the issue of slavery.
Congress adopted this legislation and admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so that the balance between slave and free states in the nation would remain equal.
The Missouri compromise also proposed that slavery be prohibited above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. This provision held for 34 years, until it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional in its Dred Scott v. Sandford decision.
Congress adopted this legislation and admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so that the balance between slave and free states in the nation would remain equal.
The Missouri compromise also proposed that slavery be prohibited above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. This provision held for 34 years, until it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional in its Dred Scott v. Sandford decision.
Transcript
The committee of Conference of the Senate and of the House of Representatives on the Subject of the disagreeing votes of the Two Houses, upon the Bill entitled an "Act for the admission of the State of Missouri into the Union,"-Report the following Resolution.
Resolved.
1st That they recommend to the Senate to secede from their amendment to the said Bill
2nd That they recommend to the two Houses to agree to strike out of the fourth section of the Bill from the House of Representatives now pending in the Senate, entitled an "Act to Authorize 'the people of the Missouri Territory to form a Constitution and State Government and for the admission of such State into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States" The following proviso in the following words- and shall ordain and establish, That there shall be neither Slavery nor Involuntary Servitude otherwise than in the
punishment of Crimes whereof the party shall have been duly Convicted: provided, always, That any person escaping into the same, from whom Labor or Service is lawfully claimed in any other State, such Fugitives may be lawfully reclaimed and Conveyed to the person claiming his or her labour or service, as aforesaid: Provided nevertheless, That the said Provision shall not be construed to alter the condition of civil rights of any person now held to service or labor,in the said Territory"-
And that the following provision be added to the Bill-
And be it further enacted, that in all that Territory ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty two degrees and thirty minutes north latitude
not included within the limits of the state contemplated by this act, slavery and involuntary servitude otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be and is hereby
forever prohibited. Provided always That any person escaping into the same from whom labour or service is lawfully claimed in any other state or Territory of the United States, such
fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labour or service as aforesaid.
This primary source comes from the Records of Joint Committees of Congress.
National Archives Identifier: 306524
Full Citation: Conference committee report on the Missouri Compromise; 3/1/1820; Joint Committee of Conference on the Missouri Bill, 3/1/1820 - 3/6/1820; Records of Joint Committees of Congress, Record Group 128; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/committee-report-missouri-compromise, March 28, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
