From Laura B.

***UPDATED***

Apparently Kelly and I share the same brain, so our two projects are remarkably similar. Except she did hers with real graphics, and I did mine on Microsoft Paint.

I found that the main stumbling block in this first Missouri Compromise Project project was the complete lack of knowledge of ANYTHING about the actual Missouri Compromise. In my discussions with you dudes, I have found that you all feel the same way. So, please enjoy my flowchart explaining the all-important Missouri Compromise of 1820.

It all started when Missouri, Maine, and Arkansas were getting ready to draft constitutions, the first step in becoming one of the great United States. At this time, the division of free vs. slave states was equal, and both sides wanted to keep it that way. (Fig 1.)

OF COURSE this led to all sorts of fighting, because with the admission of three new states, balance could potentially be all out of whack. (Fig. 2, as represented by a fire-breathing dinosaur, cause I thought that looked really sharp).

So then in walks Henry Clay (a/k/a the Great Compromiser), who came up with a solution. He said, and I quote: “Hey Jerks. Let’s keep the free state free and the slave state a slave state. “ Now, all of congress was up in arms about what to do about Missouri, but before they could get their 19^th Century panties in a wad, he said “Chill out. Let’s not allow slavery in ANY of the new American Territories, purchased in the aptly named Louisiana Purchase. BUT to keep you southern states happy, any place south of the Southern boundary of Missouri could decide things for themselves. (Fig. 3).

This precedent lasted for 30 years, and anytime a new state was admitted, they were admitted in tandem: one free and one slave. Now, this worked somewhat, but was eventually repealed by the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1954. (Fig. 4)

Well. Under the terms of the act, the residents of the Kansas and Nebraska territories would decide for themselves whether they would enter the Union as free or slave soil states. By repealing the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act reopened the divisive issue of slavery's expansion, and brought the United States closer to civil war. (Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 (A Civil War Re-enactor in a crystal ball))

SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!