The of 1820 limited the amount of territory that might become slave states, leading southerners to push for migration for political reasons.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 limited the amount of territory that might become slave states, leading Southerners to push for migration for political reasons.

Explanation:

The Missouri Compromise was an agreement taken in 1820 between the representatives of the slave and abolitionist states in the United States Congress regarding the regulation of slavery in the western territories, which eventually had to become states, in order to maintain the balance of powers between these two antagonistic forces.

The agreement involved the incorporation of the states of Missouri (slave) at the same time as that of Maine (abolitionist), which until then depended on the state of Massachusetts. The establishment of a dividing line defined by parallel 36 ° 30 'as a limit between both forces in the future was also agreed.

The Compromise was not always respected in the creation of new states due to the application of the principle of popular sovereignty, through which its inhabitants or political representatives could decide their own laws regarding slavery. The agreement was nothing more than a temporary solution that did not solve the problem of the latent tension between the two sides and that would end up provoking the Civil War in 1861.