The Missouri Compromise was not the work of just one person, but Henry Clay is most often credited as its chief architect in Congress.

Who “created” the Missouri Compromise?

  • The Missouri Compromise was a package of laws passed by the U.S. Congress in 1820 to settle a fierce dispute over the expansion of slavery.
  • Henry Clay, then Speaker of the House from Kentucky, led the negotiations and “engineered” the compromise measures, earning the nickname “the Great Compromiser.”
  • President James Monroe signed the Missouri Compromise into law on March 6, 1820, so he formally approved, but did not design, the deal.

Quick Scoop: Key facts

  • The compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state to keep the balance in the Senate.
  • It banned slavery in most of the remaining Louisiana Purchase territory north of latitude 36°30′, except for Missouri itself.
  • Senator Jesse B. Thomas of Illinois proposed the key amendment drawing the 36°30′ line, which became a central feature of the deal.

In short: Congress created the Missouri Compromise, but Henry Clay is the person most closely associated with “creating” and steering it through, with an important territorial amendment from Senator Jesse B. Thomas and final approval by President James Monroe.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.