15 March - Maine is admitted as the twenty-third U.S. state

 

Maine was admitted as the twenty-third U.S. state on March 15, 1820. This event followed the Missouri Compromise, a legislative effort to balance the number of slave and free states in the Union. As part of the compromise, Missouri was admitted as a slave state, and Maine was separated from Massachusetts to be admitted as a free state, maintaining the balance between slave and free states in the United States. The Missouri Compromise aimed to ease tensions between the North and the South regarding the expansion of slavery into new territories and states.