Even though it was able to temporarily halt the debates on the issue of slavery in the United States, the Missouri Compromise planted the seeds for Civil War. The Compromise allowed for the admission of Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
- It further stipulated that slavery would be prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase Territory north of the 36°30′ parallel, except for the portion comprising the state of Missouri.
- The Missouri Compromise was significant in that it established the precedent that the federal government could regulate the expansion of slavery in the territories.
- This principle would later be challenged by the pro-slavery forces, who argued that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories.
- The debates over the extension of slavery into the territories intensified in the years leading up to the Civil War. ultimately leading to the secession of the southern states and the start of the American Civil War in 1861.