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Missouri’s bumpy road to statehood continued early in 1821 with the approval by Congress of the First Missouri Constitution. The territory presented the Constitution to Congress in November 1820, setting off an immediate reaction by those opposing admitting Missouri as a slave state.
The grounds involved a clause requiring the General Assembly to enact a statute prohibiting free persons of color from moving into the state. Some states recognized the citizenship of freed slaves, and thus objected to enacting such a prohibition. Opponents claimed any such statue would violate the privileges and immunities clause of the U. S. Constitution in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1. This clause prevents states from treating citizens of other states in a discriminatory manner.