"This momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated." — Thomas Jefferson to John Holmes, 1820
Jefferson's "geographical line" referred to which provision?
- Acheck_circle
The 36 degrees 30 minutes boundary in the Missouri Compromise
- B
The 49th parallel with British Canada
- C
The Mason-Dixon line of Pennsylvania
- D
The Proclamation Line of 1763
Explanation
The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as free, prohibiting slavery north of 36 degrees 30 minutes in the Louisiana Purchase.