A. "The existence of slavery impairs the industry and the power of a
nation; and it does so in proportion to the multiplication of its
slaves . . .
"If slavery be permitted in Missouri, with the climate and soil and
in the circumstances of this territory, what hope can be entertained
that it will ever be prohibited in any of the new states that will be
formed in the immense region west of the Mississippi?"
-Senator Rufus King, Nile's Weekly Register, December 4, 1819
B. "Rob us of our just portion of the territory which has been jointly
purchased by the treasures of the nation and the valley of the
Mississippi will be settled by the sons of the Eastern people, the
inheritors of their fathers' prejudices . . .
"And when they have succeeded in excluding from the Western
settlements every Southern man, and shall have sent forth in every
direction swarms from the Northern hive, and missionary preachers
against the cruelties and inhumanities of Southern slavery, a universal
emancipation may be the next scheme suggested by visionary
philanthropists or promoted by designing politicians."
-Anonymous, Richmond Enquirer, December 23, 1819
Compare the two statements (A and B) and decide which issue in the region
west of the Mississippi most concerns both these two individuals.
a. the settlement by northerners
b. the prohibition of slavery
c. the exclusion of southerners
d. the weakening of the national economy