What significant issue did the missouri compromise aim to resolve?

The Missouri Compromise was trying to keep the power equal between the North and the South. The country was already extremely divided and neither side wanted a state added which would make the power uneven between the states. In order for Missouri to be admitted as a slave state to make the South happy, then the North also wanted a state added so that the South wouldn't have more states than them. And vice versa. The South didn't want Missouri to be admitted as a free state to give the North more power. So Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine was made as a free state to try to keep the balance between the two sections more equal.