Question

How would the formation of states in the Michigan, Arkansas, and florida territories probably affect the balance of power that the Missouri compromise tried to maintain?

Answer 1

The formation of states in Michigan, Arkansas, and Florida played a significant role in maintaining the balance of power between slave and free states in the U.S. Senate after the Missouri Compromise. The careful admission of slave and free states continued to preserve this balance, avoiding further sectional conflict at that time.

Step-by-step explanation:

The formation of states in the Michigan, Arkansas, and Florida territories after the Missouri Compromise was a crucial point in maintaining the delicate balance of power between free and slave states in the United States Senate. When Missouri petitioned to join the Union as a slave state in 1819, it threatened to disrupt this balance, leading to the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This helped maintain a balance by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and drawing a line at latitude 36° 30' as the boundary between slave and free territories in the future.

Arkansas and Michigan's subsequent entries to the Union in 1836 and 1837, respectively, as a slave state and a free state continued this precedence of maintaining the balance. Arkansas's admission was in line with the Missouri Compromise because it was below the latitude 36° 30' line. However, the inclusion of Florida (which would later join as a slave state) and Michigan (as a free state) would continue the pattern of maintaining an equal number of slave and free states, thus not upsetting the established balance of power that had been carefully constructed to prevent sectional conflict.

Answer 2

The balance of power between slave states and free states would have been upset. If representative of slave or free states would have been in the Senate and the House of Representatives because of newly formed states, their agenda would have been superior to the other agenda every time.