![[Pasted image 20260406074330.png]] As we have already seen, the differences that led to the secession of the South and the Civil War were present from the start of the United States. Early compromises over the 3/5 provision of the Constitution and banning slavery in the Northwest Territory led to disagreements over issues like the states’ right to nullify federal laws. In this chapter we’ll look more closely at the escalating conflicts between the slaveholding South and the increasingly anti-slavery North and West. The admission of new states increased focus on the balance between supporters and opponents of slavery in government. In 1820, a bill called the Missouri Compromise allowed two new states to enter the Union simultaneously to keep the balance. Free-soil Maine and slaveholding Missouri would each get two senators and a small number of representatives until their populations increased. An additional clause in the law would prevent slavery north of the [36°30′ parallel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_36%C2%B030%E2%80%B2_north), excluding Missouri. President James Monroe signed it on March 6, 1820. ---- Next: [[12.2 - Mexican Politics]]