Effects of the Missouri Compromise of 1820

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an important piece of legislation that affected settlement and views on state and federal rights. Beyond the immediate problems solved or postponed, the Missouri Compromise influenced future legislation and debate over slavery.

In this activity, students will use a spider map to branch out other acts, compromises, and court cases that ultimately were a result of or directly influenced by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This will allow students to centralize the compromise, and see what long and short-term effects it had on the nation and question of slavery.

Major Effects of the Missouri Compromise

• Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
• Dred Scott Case
• Compromise of 1850
• The Civil War
• Postponing the Slave Question
• Wilmot Proviso
• Lincoln-Douglas Debates
• Popular Sovereignty

Extended Activity

Have students create a spider map on one topic included in their spider map of the Missouri Compromise. Students should utilize the same idea (what events, legislation, etc.) that stemmed from their centralized idea. This will give deeper understanding to just how instrumental the Missouri Compromise, as well as their selected topic, had on big ideas like the extension of slavery, and slavery as an institution itself.