The Mississippi Compromise

The Mississippi Compromise was an 1820 agreement aimed at maintaining the balance of power between free and slave states in the U.S. Congress. It allowed Missouri to join as a slave state but made Maine a free state to keep the overall balance. Additionally, it established a dividing line (the 36°30′ parallel) across the Louisiana Territory, north of which slavery was banned (except in Missouri). This compromise temporarily eased tensions over slavery's expansion, illustrating the deep divisions over the issue during that period.