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In these ways slavery had ceased to be a vital institution north of Maryland and Kentucky. Why should slavery be allowed west of the Mississippi River? Louisiana had been admitted as a slave state (1812). But the admission of Louisiana had been provided for in the treaty for the purchase of Louisiana from France. The Southerners felt as strongly on the other side. They said that their slaves were their property, and that they had a perfect right to take their property and settle on the land belonging to the nation. Having founded a slave state, it was only right that the state should be admitted to the Union.
通過這些努力，在馬里蘭和肯塔基北部已經不存在有效的奴隸制機構，為什么在密西西比河西部還要允許有奴隸制？1812年路易斯安那已經作為一個奴隸制州被美國接受，因為從法國購買路易斯安那的條約中已經規定美國接受路易斯安那為一個州，南方各州的人則認為不然，他們說奴隸是他們的財產，他們完全有權力帶著他們的財產到屬于美國的土地上定居；既然已經形成了一個奴隸州，所能做的選擇只能是接受它為聯邦的一個州。
279. The Missouri Compromise, 1820.-When the question of the admission of Maine and Missouri came before Congress, the Senate was equally divided between the slave states and the free states. But the majority of the House of Representatives was from the free states. The free states were growing faster than were the slave states and would probably keep on growing faster. The majority from the free states in the House, therefore, would probably keep on increasing. If the free states obtained a majority in the Senate also, the Southerners would lose all control of the government. For these reasons the Southerners would not consent to the admission of Maine as a free state unless at the same time Missouri was admitted as a slave state. After a long struggle Maine and Missouri were both admitted-the one as a free state, the other as a slave state. But it was also agreed that all of the Louisiana purchase north of the southern boundary of Missouri, with the single exception of the state of Missouri, should be freesoil forever. This arrangement was called the Missouri Compromise. It was the work of Henry Clay. It was an event of great importance, because it put off for twenty-five years the inevitable conflict over slavery.
279．《密蘇里折中案》（1820年）--當國會遇到接受緬因與密蘇里為兩個州這個問題時，參議院被分為奴隸州和自由州兩個等同的部分，但是，大多數眾議員都是從自由州而來，自由州比奴隸州發展要快，而且可能會繼續快速發展，因此，眾議院來自自由州的大部分議員的數量可能保持增長，如果自由州也在參議院獲得大多數席位，南方人將失去對政府的控制。由于這些原因，除非將密蘇里作為一個奴隸州而接受，南方人不會同意接受緬因為一個州。經過長時間的斗爭，緬因和密蘇里都被接受下來，它們一個是奴隸州，一個是自由州。但是，國會還達成一致的是，密蘇里南部邊界以北所買來的那些路易斯安那地區（密蘇里州除外）都應該永遠沒有奴隸制。這個協議被稱為《密蘇里折中案》，它是亨利o克雷的杰作。這是一個重要的歷史事件，因為它將關于奴隸制的戰爭向后推遲了25年。
