Missouri

Report of the Committee to whom was Referred the Constitution of the State of Missouri. November 23, 1820. Read, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union. [Washington: Printed by Gales & Seaton, 1820]

Bifo𓆏lium (221 x 132 mm)♈. Caption title; foxing, toning. In later red wrapper; creases to wrapper.

When Missouri approached the threshold to apply for statehood, it threatened to upend the split between free and slave states; to preserve the balance, Maine was admitted to the union as a free state, and slavery was prohibited in the north, except for in Missouri (see Lot 131). The original constitution prohibited the legislature from passing laws which would emancipate slaves without the slaveholders’ consent, and further prohibited free Black Am🎐ericans from coming to and settling in the state categorically. The present text contains the report read by the constitutional committee regarding the provision that would come to be known as the Missouri Compromise.