In 1818, the Speaker of the House of Representatives presented the first petition of the Territory of Missouri requesting statehood. The question of Missouri's admission as a slave or free state led statesman Henry Clay to devise the Missouri Compromise of 1820, admitting Missouri as a slave state while admitting Maine as a free state, and prohibiting slavery in Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36° 30', Missouri's southern border." —Library of Congress
Question
Use the passage to answer the question.
How would the simultaneous admission of Missouri and Maine help to maintain peace in the United States?
(1 point)
Responses
It defined the rights of slave and free states.
It defined the rights of slave and free states.
It expanded the geographical size of the nation.
It expanded the geographical size of the nation.
It kept the number of slave and free states even.
It kept the number of slave and free states even.
It would promote popular sovereignty in the West.