The Missouri Compromise…doesn't exactly have any rhetoric or rhetorical devices. It wasn't intended to convince anyone of anything, or to take a stand on an issue. The Compromise was intended to...

SectionsThe Compromise is conveniently broken down into sections by topic, as was the fashion at the time. (But remember that the fashions of 1820 also includes such gems as dresses that look like...

A Formal BillThe tone of the Compromise is at once straightforward and incredibly dense. (Hemingway this ain't. Sorry.)This was pretty important, because the Compromise was a lawful bill being pass...

Ye Ole Fashioned LegaleseThe good news? This bill contains only thirty-four sentences. The bad news? Those thirty-four sentences use nearly two thousand words. The Missouri Compromise: exposure the...

The Missouri Compromise is a rather unassuming title for one of the formative pieces of legislation that set the U.S. on the track towards Civil War. But ultimately it was about Missouri (at least,...

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the inhabitants of that portion of the Missouri territory included within the b...

And be it further enacted. (8.1) That in all that territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitu...

(5) Tree LineThe Missouri Compromise is a difficult text because the way it was drafted specifically not to address slavery as the central issue at hand. The guys who wrote this doc were super keen...

In-Text ReferencesHistorical and Political ReferencesUnited States (1.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 6.7, 6.8, 7.1, 8.2)President of the United States (6.8)Congress (1.1, 4.1, 5.2, 6.3, 6.5, 7.1)India...

If Henry Clay's early career was dodgy, it was nothing compared to his later maneuvers. He likely pulled off what is perhaps the greatest backroom deal in all of U.S. history during the Presidentia...