The Missouri Compromise, passed in 1820, was an agreement between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress. It concerned the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It admitted Missouri as a slave state to please the South. It admitted Maine as a free state to please the North. It kept the balance of power in the United States Senate between the free states and slave states. The plan also called for slavery to be banned from the Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36 degrees 30' north (also known as the Missouri Compromise Line), except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. It was a temporary measure that reduced the conflict over slavery. But there was continued resentment between North and South. The South resented Congress interfering with slavery. The North resented having to compromise on the moral issues of slavery. Both sides wanted the political power necessary for their issue to win. In his book "Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power", historian Garry Wills wrote, “the South was not demanding slave representation to achieve a near-parity at the moment, but as a way of achieving majority control in the immediately foreseeable future.”
In 1849, when Zachary Taylor became president, the new territories the U.S. gained after the Mexican-American war caused the issue of slavery to become critical again. The California Gold Rush had caused the population there to suddenly increase and Californians now wanted statehood as a free state. This upset the balance of 15 free states and 15 slave states established by the Missouri Compromise.
Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky presented resolutions on January 29, 1850 saying they represented the spirit of compromise that would keep the Union together. Former Vice President and Senator from South Carolina John C. Calhoun saw it differently. For a month he worked on a speech but was too ill to deliver it. Virginia Senator James A. Mason read it on the floor of the Senate on March 4. In a speech on March 7, Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts spoke in favor of compromise. Abolitionists in the North saw this as a betrayal and giving in to slavery interests. William H. Seward, then the Senator from New York, spoke next for the abolitionists. He claimed there was a "higher law than the Constitution," which prevented any compromise with slavery.
At the same time the House of Representatives was also debating the question. No agreements had been reached by early April so a committee was suggested by Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi. Called the "Committee of Thirteen" it was made up of seven Whigs and six Democrats. The committee drafted a bill based mainly on Clay's compromise resolutions made in January. Clay himself was the chairman and presented the bill on May 8.
Each side got some benefits from the compromise:
Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War
A timeline of events leading up to the American Civil War describes the events which historians recognize as contributing to the American Civil War. Many of these events lead back to the founding of the country. The United States Constitution makes only a few mentions of slavery leaving it largely up to the individual states to govern it. As the Northern and Southern United States developed along separate lines, slavery eventually disappeared from the North. It became an institution in the South. As new parts of the country opened up to settlement the issues over slavery started a long-standing controversy between North and South. It became a burning issue and led to secession of several Southern states. This in general led to the Civil War.
West London Synagogue
West London Synagogue is the oldest Reform synagogue located in London, England, United Kingdom. The synagogue was established on 15 April 1840.
The current building, built in 1870, is located near Marble Arch in London. The main sanctuary is built in the Byzantine architectural style. The premises also contain offices, a library and community facilities.
Julio César Turbay Ayala
Julio César Turbay Ayala (18 June 1916 – 13 September 2005) was the 25th President of Colombia from 1978 to 1982.
Turbay was born in a poor neighborhood on June 18, 1916. His father, Antonio Amín Turbay, was a businessman who emigrated from Tannourine, Lebanon.
His mother, Rosaura Ayala, was a peasant from the province of Cundinamarca. Turbay’s father was a hard working merchant who had built a fortune, which he completely lost during the civil war of the Thousand Days War.
In response to an increase in guerrilla activity, a 1978 decree known as the Security Statute was implemented by Turbay's administration.
The Security Statute gave the military an increased degree of freedom of action, especially in urban areas, to detain, interrogate and eventually judge suspected guerrillas or their collaborators before military tribunals. Human rights organizations, newspaper columnists, political personalities and opposition groups complained about an increase in the number of arbitrary detentions and acts of torture as a result.
In late 1980, sixteen ambassadors were held hostage for 61 days as part of a takeover of the Dominican Republic's embassy. The incident soon spread throughout worldwide headlines, as ambassadors from the United States of America, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Israel and Venezuela had been taken hostage, as well as Colombia's top representative to the Holy See.
Turbay, despite pressure from military and political sectors, avoided deciding to solve the crisis through the use of direct military force, and instead eventually agreed to let the M-19 rebels travel to Cuba. Allegedly, the rebels also received USD 1 million as payment, instead of the initial $50 million that they had originally demanded from the government.
Turbay married his niece, Nydia Quintero Turbay, on July 1, 1948. They had four children together: Julio César, Diana, Claudia, and María Victoria. However, their marriage was annulled by the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1986 he married his longtime companion Amparo Canal, to whom he remained married until his death.
In January 1991, Turbay's daughter Diana was kidnapped by orders of the Medellín Cartel and died during a failed police rescue operation not sanctioned by her family. Her kidnapping is chronicled in "News of a Kidnapping" by the Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez (1996) and depicted in multiple onscreen productions.
Turbay died on September 13, 2005. He was honored by a state funeral personally led by President Álvaro Uribe and was buried at the Sacromonte Caves at Canton Norte, an army base in Bogotá.
Conan the Barbarian (1982 movie)
Conan the Barbarian is a 1982 American fantasy-adventure film directed by John Milius. Based on the stories of Robert E. Howard, the film tells the story of a warrior prince (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who must battle and defeat Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones), an evil sorcerer who murdered his parents. Although initial reception for the film was poor, it was a box-office hit and launched Schwarzenegger's career, and in the years since, it has garnered a cult following. A sequel, Conan the Destroyer, was released in 1984, and a remake was also released in 2011.