President James Monroe Has Read and Returns the Counsel of Jefferson During Missouri Crisis of 1820, But Would Ultimately Ignore It

Here Monroe returns the original to its recipient

The first great crisis over slavery occurred when Missouri requested to be admitted to the Union as a slave state in 1819. The number of slave and free states was then balanced at 11 each, and admission would upset that balance. Both north and south staked out positions based on sectionalism, rather than nationalism, the first time this had occurred. The debates in Congress were intense. With so many territories in the west still thinly settled or not settled at all (and the certainty that additional requests for admission would be presented as these territories were populated and qualified for statehood), it was clear that this divisive issue could recur again and again. Congress thus sought to settle the question once and for all by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free one, and more importantly, by drawing a line below which slavery would be permitted in the territories and above which it would be forbidden. The Missouri Compromise appeared to most to be a perfect solution, but some were troubled by the implications of drawing a physical line between north and south, and thereby creating defined sections where once there was a union. In March, 1820, Jefferson received word of the details of the Compromise essentially agreed upon in Congress. He was appalled by the very idea of reducing a political disagreement to geographical terms. On April 5, 1820, he wrote to Mark Hill, a Maine congressman, that “The idea of a geographical line, once suggested, will brood in the minds of all those who prefer the gratification of their ungovernable passions to the peace and union of their country.” We offer a letter that proves that Pres. Monroe was shown this exact letter to Hill (and was thus aware of Jefferson’s opposition to the Missouri Compromise); in fact it is the very cover letter with which Monroe returned the Jefferson letter to Hill.

Autograph Letter Signed as President to Mark Hill, April 13, 1820. “Mr. Monroe has perused Mr. Jefferson’s letter with pleasure, which he now returns to Mr. Hill, with thanks for his attention.” Just days later, Jefferson wrote the famous letter saying that the Missouri question was a “firebell in the night,” and promised to be the knell of the Union. Despite Jefferson’s opposition, Monroe felt that he had no choice but to sign the Missouri Compromise. Ultimately Jefferson proved to be correct; dividing the nation geographically seemed to freeze attitudes and actions along sectional lines, and was the first step to Civil War. See Jefferson and His Time by Malone for a full discussion.