dual personalities

In case you have forgotten, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a law that tried to address growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery. By passing the law, the U.S. Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery, and Maine as a free state. It also banned slavery from the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands located north of the 36º 30’ parallel (the southern border of Missouri). The U.S. Congress passed the legislation on March 3, 1820, and President James Monroe signed it on March 6, 1820–over 200 years ago.

Thomas Jefferson considered it “as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment, but this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence.”* It was a temporary fix.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively repealed the bill in 1854, and the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), both of which increased tensions over slavery and contributed, as you can imagine, to the Civil War.

In other news, in case you missed it, yesterday was Ash Wednesday–I only found out because it is printed on my weekly planner! Well, gee, we forgot to have pancakes on Tuesday and make meaningless resolutions about Lent and self-care. I was busy praying hard for daughter #1 to make it home safely, flying on a small jet from Colorado on a very windy (and intermittently snowy) day. (She made it home and picked up Mr. Smith at the kennel and made it to her Wednesday night Bible study!)

And here’s an important reminder.

I will also mention that Dolly Parton’s husband of nearly 60 years, Carl Dean, died a few days ago. It is strange to see so many pictures of him since for so many years she never appeared with him in public and no one even really knew what he looked like.

He was quite a handsome dude. And a lucky one. We’ll toast him (and Dolly) tonight. May flights of angels lead you on your way, Carl.

*Jefferson to Holmes, April 22, 1820