egic advantage of
their opponents. Though the opposition to Slavery might be said to be
yet in the gristle, the men hostile to the institution were found in all
parties, and were beginning to divide from its more ardent supporters.

Under the ban of public opinion Slavery was either dead or legally dying
in all the older States north of Mason and Dixon's line. In the kingly
stretch of territory lying north of the Ohio and between the Alleghanies
and the Mississippi there was no taint of the foot of a slave, and the
settlers there wanted to "set the bounds of Freedom wider yet."

The Anti-Slavery men everywhere, and at that time there were very many
in the Southern States, protested vigorously against the admission
of Missouri into the Union as a Slave State, and the controversy soon
became so violent as to convulse the Nation. In 1818, when the bill
for the admission of Missouri was being considered by the House of
Representatives, Gen. James Tallmadge, of New York, introduced the
following amendment:

And provided, That the introduction of slavery, or involuntary
servitude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes, whereof
the party has been duly convicted; and that all children born within
the said State, after the admission thereof into the Union, shall be
declared free at the age of 25 years.

7

This was adopted by practically all the votes from the Free States, with
a few from the Border States, which constituted a majority in the House.
But the Senate, in which the Slave States had a majority, rejected the
amendment, and the struggle began which was only ended two years
later by the adoption of the famous Missouri Compromise of 1820, which
admitted Missouri as a Slave State, but prohibited for the future any
"Slavery or involuntary servitude" outside the limits of that State
north of 36 degrees 30 minutes.

As in all compromises, this was unsatisfactory to the earnest men on
both sides of the dispute.

The Anti-Slavery men, who claimed that Freedom was National and Slavery
local, were incensed that such an enormous area as that south of 36
degrees 30 minutes had been taken from Freedom by the implication that
it was reserved for Slavery.

The Pro-Slavery men, on the other hand, who had shrewdly made Slavery
extension appear one of the fundamental and cherished rights of the
South, set up the clamorous protest, which never ceased till Appomattox,
that the denial of the privilege of taking pro