The purpose of the Missouri Compromise was to keep a balance between the number of slave states and the number of free states in the Union.
'I plead the fifth' is a term used for citing the right to decline a question if their own answers might incriminate or enmesh themselves into a bad situation. This is generally used to be free of any penalties rather than taking the risks of answering a question you might not want to expose. Someone might say this statement if they do not want to reply to a question that will make them come off as bad or petty.
A scribe they keep the records and notes and important books
Furs and tobacco immediately come to mind there are possibly more
