The slaveholding territory of Missouri, in 1819, applied for them to be admitted into the union. In the north, where the salve abolitionist sentiment was growing, the people opposed the idea because they felt the southern states had so much power already.
The constitution at that time, permitted the states to count each slave they have as three-fifths of a person when it comes to calculating the population of the people and the number of representatives at the congress each state was entitled to. This arrangement had already given the south an advantage in the congress at that time.
The main importance of the oral tradition of reciting poetry is that it allows for stories to be passed down from generation to generation--stories that often tell important lessons about how societies were formed.
