The primary cause of the sectional controversy of 1819 was the question of what should be done with the territories west of the Mississippi River. Should they be free or slave territories? Neither side was willing to agree with the other. When Missouri sought to obtain statehood, a resolution was drafted prohibiting more slaves from being brought into Missouri, and granting slaves born after statehood freedom after a certain age. This notion was debated about among the House and the Senate for some time. After much debate and conflict, a solution was finally reached. Maine, who had just applied for statehood, would be added to the Union as a free state, and Missouri would become a slave state. This retained the balance between slave
