The Missouri Compromise of 1820 ended a debate over which states would support slavery. Missouri would be admitted as a slave state and Maine would be a free state. If states were north of Missouri’s southern boundary they would be free. New Mexico (and Arizona), according to the Compromise of 1820, would be admitted as slave states, when they applied for statehood. But according to the Compromise of 1850, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah could decide for themselves. Other territories in the Louisiana Purchase also wanted to chose. Especially Kansas and Nebraska.
The compromise of 1850 contradicted the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by creating a free state south of 36°30'N. According to the Missouri Compromise, Missouri would enter as a slave state, Maine would join as a free state, and slavery would be prohibited in any new state north of Missouri's southern border, 36°30'N latitude
It is the process which provides private individuals and opportunity to influence piblic decisions and to be a component of the democraric decision making process
