Contesting the Structure: Congress Debates the Missouri Disaster, 1819-1821 (Research in Constitutional Democracy)

The admission of Missouri to the Union rapidly turned a constitutional disaster of the primary order, inciting an intensive reexamination of the U.S. Structure by the U.S. Congress. The guts of the query in want of decision was whether or not that physique possessed the authority to put circumstances on a territory—on this occasion Missouri—relating to restrictions on slavery—earlier than its admittance to the Union.

The bigger query with which the legislators grappled have been the bounds of the Structure’s provisions granting Congress the authority to have an effect on the establishment of slavery—each the place it already existed and the place it may increase. The problem—what would come to be generally known as the Missouri Disaster—severely examined the nonetheless younger republic and, some 4 a long time later, would all however rend it asunder. This well timed assortment of unique essays thoughtfully engages the intersections of historical past and constitutional regulation, and is definite to search out keen readers amongst historians, authorized students, political scientists, in addition to many who name Missouri house.

Contributing Authors:
William S. Belko
Christopher Childers
John Eastman
Brook Poston
John R. Van Atta