Samuel Clemens, who later took the pen name Mark Twain, spent his childhood in Hannibal, Missouri (model for the fictional town St. Petersburg), in the 1830s and '40s. The region had grown rapidly since the defeat of its Indian tribes in the War of 1812, becoming a destination of many Southerners, who moved there with their slaves. As the century progressed, events unfolded that would greatly affect the lives of both the new and old inhabitants of Missouri. Twain's Huckleberry Finn especially reflects the impact of these events on black-white relations in the region.
Missouri Compromise and slavery. The issue of slavery caused tension in Congress that surfaced in battles over the admission of new states. The Union was carefully balanced in 1820, comprised of twelve free states and twelve slave states. To maintain this balance, Congress worked out a compromise that year by admitting Maine as a free state and accepting Missouri's plan to enter as a slave state. Included in the compromise was a clause permitting Missouri slaveowners to recover any of their slaves who fled to nearby free states.
