The Missouri Compromise,
National Geographic Society,
2002
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The Missouri Compromise was an act of Congress that admitted two states to the Union -- Missouri, as a slave state, and Maine, as a free state. The admission of both states to the Union at the same time was important because it kept the balance of power between North, free states, and South, slave states equal. The desire for this balance was a key factor in the buildup to the Civil War -- if Southern slave states did not have the same representation in Congress as the Northern free states, it was more likely that they would secede.
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