Slavery in Missouri

Posted by Mary Trotter Kion Feb 21, 2007

Missouri, in 1819, seeks statehood as a slave state. The Missouri Compromise allows for Maine to come in as a free state. The compromise includes a new Fugitive Slave Law that would compel northern law enforcement agents and officials to aid in the capture and return of runaway slaves. However, this condition strongly enrages antislavery northerners who resent the invasion of slave catchers into their sector of the country. The Missouri state legislature passes a law prohibiting the entrance of free black people into the state.