Missouri Compromise

Conflict with the Courts falls under the AP theme: Politics and Power. Madison’s midnight appointed judges did not have the chance to be given their commission letters and future judge Marbury called upon the Supreme Court to force Secretary Madison to give over his commission. Their legendary decision to not force an executive official to act was a win for the current administration because it kept more Federalists from gaining power in the judiciary system. Their overturning of Congress’s Judiciary Act of 1789 as unconstitutional was of more significance than their lack of action in commanding Madison to deliver letters. The Supreme Court overturning the Judiciary Act was caused by their realization that the judiciary branch should not have

Missouri’s seeking to become a state in 1819 was complicated by the fact that it currently had slavery. Maine also was seeking admittance to be a (free) state so the two were paired together as free and slave, balancing out the Congress. In order to prevent further conflicts over whether states would be free or slave, Senator Jesse Thomas proposed the 36°30’ parallel to ban the introduction of slave states above Missouri, known as the Missouri Compromise. The cause of the Missouri Compromise was the division of Congress as members representing free states and slave states. If the balance was overthrown, it was feared that slavery could be abolished nationally or legalized nationally by a majority of representatives of either side. The effect of the Missouri Compromise was the immediate satisfaction of the members of Congress that no national decisions about slavery, applying to every state, would be made by a majority. Similarly, the Missouri Compromise is related to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 in which Stephen Douglass allowed the new states Kansas and Nebraska to decide amongst themselves whether slavery would be legal. Because Kansas and Nebraska were not in the Louisiana Purchase, this new act had to be created to again distribute states as free or slave. It is important because it immediately settled the disagreement over what new states would be free or slave, but highlighted the overall

In the 1824 election Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford, and Henry Clay were selected with 99, 84, 41, and 37 electoral votes respectively. The newly passed Twelfth Amendment made the House pick only Jackson and Adams as the qualifiers for election. Clay’s hatred for Jackson and belief that Adams was more nationalistic. led him to support him. Although there was no evidence for a deal, Adams appointed Clay as his Secretary of State after his support against Jackson. This was essentially naming him as the next president which Jacksonians despised and continuously attacked Adams for during his four years in office. The cause for the Jacksonians’ anger towards President John Quincy Adams was his appointment of Clay to be his Secretary of State, generally giving him a great advantage in becoming the next president. Jackson had a greater lead in electoral votes and national popularity so being twice practically denied the Presidency was hard. The effect of the hatred of Adams for his alleged “corrupt bargain” with Clay was a blockage of his proposals in Congress. Similarly, Donald Trump plans to give his companies to his children to run while he is President, but still has them on his transition team. Because of his past business dealings and intimidation tactics, people worry that they could use their relationship with the President to influence their own dealings positively. It is similar to