e North and South. Problems arose, however, in 1818 as Missouri Territory, where the slave trade was practised among many colonists, applied to join the Union. Controversy ensued as most Northerners wanted to limit the admission of slave states. An amendment was therefore added to the statehood bill that would gradually eliminate slavery in Missouri. The amendment was defeated and the government adjourned without passing the bill.
             In the next session while the status of Missouri remained undecided, Alabama was admitted to the Union as a slave state, creating equal representation in the Senate. During this conflict Maine applied for admittance into the Union as a free state. A series of measures were then taken known as the Missouri Compromise allowing Missouri and Maine to be slave and free states respectively. Slavery in any new state admitted to the Union to the north of the 36th parallel was thenceforth prohibited.
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