The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a legislation passed by the United States Congress which aimed to maintain a balance of power between slave states and free states. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, thereby preserving the balance between the number of slave and free states in the Union. Additionally, it established the 36°30' parallel as the dividing line between future slave and free territories in the Louisiana Purchase region. This compromise temporarily eased tensions between the North and the South over the issue of slavery.
