The Second Missouri Compromise | Henry Clay and the Struggle for the Union

A problem arose with the Missouri Compromise in the summer of 1820: Missouri enacted a state constitution that barred free Black citizens from settling in Missouri. In this video, students will learn about the response in Congress to that measure.

U.S. Rep. William Eustis of Massachusetts proposed in December 1820 that Missouri be admitted to the Union only if it removed from its state constitution the language forbidding other states’ citizens from entering Missouri. Because lawmakers feared that Southern states would secede from the union, the Eustis resolution failed. In this video, students will learn how U.S. Rep. Henry Clay stepped in to advocate for a second compromise.