Final answer:
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an attempt to maintain the balance of power between slave and free states by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, and by establishing the 36°30' line to limit the spread of slavery in the Louisiana Purchase territory. It only temporarily alleviated the growing tension over slavery and foreshadowed larger conflicts to come.
Step-by-step explanation:
Understanding the Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise, devised by Speaker of the House Henry Clay and other nationally-minded leaders in 1820, was a pivotal legislative effort to maintain the balance between slave and free states and to prevent disunion. The compromise included the admission of Missouri as a slave state and Maine, previously part of Massachusetts, as a free state. This preserved the balance in the Senate. The compromise also featured the Thomas Proviso, prohibiting slavery north of the 36°30' line in the Louisiana Purchase territory.
Although the Missouri Compromise temporarily resolved conflicts over the expansion of slavery, it did not provide a lasting solution. Deep societal fault lines were exposed by the intensity of the debates, which centered on the future of slavery in the United States. The Compromise's creation of a geographical dividing line for slavery intended to serve as a long-term solution, but it ultimately only postponed the inevitable conflict that would erupt into the Civil War.
Many Americans hoped that the new sectional consensus would ensure lasting peace, believing that the Constitution protected slavery where it existed but not in territories north of the established line. Despite these intentions, the Compromise only briefly quelled tensions between the North and South, with the question of the morality of slavery and its expansion into new territories remaining unresolved. This debate would continue to fester until it reached a tipping point some decades later.