The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was called a compromise because it temporarily resolved a long-standing debate over whether the newly admitted states of Missouri and Maine would be free or slave states. The Compromise allowed Missouri to enter as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while also setting the 36°30′ parallel as the dividing line between future free and slave states in the Louisiana Territory. In return for this, pro-slavery representatives accepted the admission of Maine and the prohibition of slavery in other parts of the Louisiana Territory north of the 36°30′ parallel. The Missouri Compromise helped to temporarily avoid a crisis over the expansion of slavery into new territories, but it did not ultimately resolve the issue, as the debate over the expansion of slavery would continue to divide the country until the Civil War.