Missouri Compromise

Missouri wants to be a slave state. The north do  not want this, because that would make the equality of slave  vs. free states uneven.  They fix this by splitting New York into two states which creates the free state of Maine.  It stopped slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36,30 north with an exception of Missouri.  This was called the Missouri Comprimise.  The reason for this is because if there were more slave states than free states the slave states would have an advantage over voting and other things.

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Compromise