During the period before the Civil War, the Missouri Compromise established that free states and slave states would remain in balance as these new territories entered the union. Why was this important, especially to the Northern states?
Most Northerners opposed slavery on moral grounds and hoped to restrict the practice.
Northern states were concerned about the growing economic power of the slave states.
Southerners wanted more allies in their justification of slavery, and Northerners objected
Southerners and Northerners had two different cultures, and it was important to balance them.