Argumentative Essay_SAT Prompt 1

Some say that being uncompromising, holding one’s stance firmly, is praiseworthy. However, Treaty of Tordesillas and Missouri Compromise of 1820 prove that exercising flexibility and making compromises have been better to achieve goals historically. Treaty of Tordesillas led to relatively peaceful colonizations of Spain and Portugal. Missouri Compromise of 1820 delayed the occurrence of Civil War by balancing the number of slave states and free states.

           One example of flexibility being more helpful for accomplishing goals is Treaty of Tordesillas in 1994. In the period of overseas expansion of European countries, Spain and Portugal were the pioneers. To acquire more land to dominate, they sailed all around the world and had frequent conflicts when the two navies confronted. To settle these problems down, the Pope drew a line on a map that equally divided the world into two parts. He assigned Portugal to explore a part of South America, which became Brazil today, Africa and Asia, and Spain to explore the rest of the South America and North America. Through being flexible and compromising, both countries could not face any other warfare and could earn various kinds of natural resources and big new lands they deserved for.

           Missouri Compromise of 1820 serves as another good example to illustrate benefits of flexibility. One of the biggest issues that make up the history of United States is whether to sustain slavery or to abolish it. Since North and South had different economic situations, they had antagonistic relationship over slavery issues. This became problematic in Congress representations, because the number of slavery states and free states highly influenced the results of any discussions. When Missouri and Maine Territory gained sufficient populations to warrant their admissions to the Union, the Congress revised its prior decision to forbid slavery in the Louisiana Territory, where Missouri and Maine were located. So, Missouri was accepted as a slave state while Maine as a free state, balancing the power in the representation. If the Congress did not exercise flexibility and admitted both states as free states, the incongruity of the power might have led to an earlier Civil War. The wise decision of the Congress satisfied the needs of both North and South, and alleviated the tension over slavery issue.

           The historical examples of Treaty of Tordesillas and Missouri Compromise of 1820 show how flexibility has worked better to achieve goals.