Henry Clay: The Great Compromise Of 1820

The Compromise of 1820, also known as the Missouri compromise, was a bill that was formed to create boundaries that split the United States between the Northern free states (non-slavery), and the Southern slave states. The boundary line for slave states and non-slave states was latitude 36°30′(see map below). At the time the northern states economy was industrial, and the southern states economy was more agricultural. For this reason the southern states relied heavily on the use of slaves to farm the land. In 1819 Alabama joined the union as a slave state. There were a total of 22 states after Alabama joined the union (11 slave states and 11 free states). In 1820 Maine came into the union as a free state. After Maine became a state the number of slave and free states were uneven and if Missouri would have joined the union as a free state the house …show more content…
History.com says,"Clay was called ‘the Great Compromiser’ because he played a major role in formulating the three landmark sectional compromises of his day: the Missouri Compromise of 1820, the Tariff Compromise of 1833, and the Compromise of 1850. Coming from the border state of Kentucky, he was predisposed toward moderation when sectional conflicts were involved. His main objective was to avoid a civil war.” This is true, but Henry Clay did help avoid the Civil War.In my perspective, Henry Clay would deserve the title,”The Great Compromiser” if he would of avoided the war. Clay was successful for delaying the civil war, but it does not help the problem because the civil war happened anyway. Delaying the War does not give the union an advantage or any significant aid. Henry clay did not accomplish much from delaying the war because it happen later in time anyways. (If Henry Clay played a big role in the compromises you need to mention his actions in the sections above and it would be a good prelude to this