Then, when the power of steam was discovered and many new cotton
spinning machines were invented, the demand for cotton became
greater and greater; the Southern planters became more sure than
ever that slavery was needful. They also became afraid that the
people in the North would want to do away with it, and if the number
of the states in which slavery was not allowed increased it would
be easy for them to do this. So the Southerners determined that if
non-slavery states were admitted to the Union slavery states must
be admitted also to keep the balance even.
Now when Maine and Missouri both asked to be admitted as states the
Southerners refused to admit Maine as a free state unless Missouri
was made a slave state to balance it.
There was tremendous excitement and talk over the matter. Meetings
were held in all the large towns. In the North the speakers called
slavery the greatest evil in the United States, and a disgrace to
the American people.
In the South the speakers declared that Congress had no right to
dictate to a state as to whether it should have slavery or not.
But even in the South few really stood up for slavery. Almost every
one acknowledged that it was an evil. But it was a necessary evil,
they said.
In the House and the Senate there were great debates also. But at
length an arrangement was come to.
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