Question

3) "This momentous question, like a firebell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at

once as the knell of the Union." Jefferson wrote this about the Missouri Compromise, what did he mean?

Answer 1

Thomas Jefferson was deeply concerned about the Missouri Compromise, viewing it as a temporary fix that failed to resolve the underlying conflict over slavery, which would continue to deepen divisions and threaten the Union.

Step-by-step explanation:

Thomas Jefferson's reaction to the Missouri Compromise was one of deep concern for the future unity of the United States. When he said the Compromise was "like a firebell in the night" that filled him with terror and considered it "the knell of the Union," he meant that the agreement was merely a temporary solution to the growing sectional conflict over slavery and not a lasting resolution.

The phrase "a reprieve only, not a final sentence" implies that Jefferson saw the Compromise as just a temporary delay of the inevitable conflict that the issue of slavery would continue to fuel, potentially leading to disunion. He recognized that the establishment of a geographical line for slavery might quiet the issue for a time but would also create a permanent divide that would be deepened with every subsequent controversy over slavery, eventually threatening the survival of the Union itself.

Answer 2

Answer: Jefferson meant that the issue of slavery had not been resolved and would come to destroy the Union.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Missouri compromise had brought the debate over slavery into the forefront, showing the ever increasing ideological differences between the North and the South. Although the compromise served to settle the matter with the admission of Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave one, the ideological differences had been brought to light, as such it is considered as the beginnning of legislative and political movements that would culminate into the American Civil War.