Missouri-Arkansas SIG

Submitted by Host GFS DarlaJo

 

Here is a short talk given / written by HostGFSPilgrim. It was presented in the MO / AR chat which is on Wednesdays beginning at 10pm ET in the Root Cellar.

By 1812 Missouri had become a second-class Territory. This gave the citizens the right to elect the lower house for the territory legislature and a non voting member for the House in Washington, D. C. Washington still oversaw the appointments of the governor, judges and other territory officials. At the county level they were appointed by the governor. Eligibility in voting and to hold public office was limited to those who could provide furnishing tax receipts from a county or territorial official.

But, it only took a short four years for Missouri to move up to third-class territory status. This gave the citizens more voting rights for their officials and statehood wasn't far ahead from that point, with petitions requesting statehood starting in 1817. When the issue of statehood came before congress, what should have been an easy matter became complicated. The wrangling over whether Missouri if admitted should be permitted to have any more slaves brought into the proposed state reared it head. The issue and arguments against it came from Senator James Tallmadge of New York.

There were many factors involved in this discussion. One was the new humanitarian movement that was in it's beginnings and the start of the battle between the industrial northeast and the agrarian south. Even though Senator John Scott pointed out that when the area was purchased that the old folks living there were given rights to all of their property and that included the slaves, therefore Tallmadge's amendment violated that guaranteed. The House passed the statehood bill with the amendment, but it failed in the US Senate. The congress adjourned without action. It again took it up the next session. By the 1819 session they worked out what came to be known as the Missouri Compromise that limited slavery to those states south of a line 36 degrees and 30 minutes. This agreement would later come back to haunt the US by the start of the War of Aggression aka the War of the Rebellion or the US Civil War.

Next, of course, came Missouri's constitutional convention and election of officials state wide. The new rules for those eligible to vote were, a free citizen, white, male and 21 or over, with proof of residence of 3 months or more. The issues of the day in 1819 were the questions of property ownership to vote, if voting needed to be in writing or could it be oral, and the nasty question about slavery and if it should be restricted or ended in the future. But in the end, no restrictionist won a seat, which might have been due to the large influxes of southern moving into the area. The convention took only 38 days to complete it's job. David Barton lead the convention.

The actual meeting place was at the Mansion House Hotel in St. Louis, MO on 12 June 1820. Some of the more notable men in attendance were: Edward Bates, who later served as Attorney-General for Abraham Lincoln, John Scott and Alexander McNair. Most of the men attending were attorneys, many of the others were better known business men of their day, over half of whom had attended college.

The Missouri Constitution gave Missouri both an upper and lower house in their legislature, with those in the lower house serving 2 year terms and those in the upper house serving 4 years. They also settled on male suffrage of those over 21 years of age and no property ownership requirement for voting, along with written ballots and a strong slavery system. They set aside guidelines for the founding of the state capital, as having to be located on the Missouri River and within 42 miles either way of the Osage River, as to be centrally located within the state.

Next the convention set about to ban several things including the immigration of free blacks and mulattos to the state, the ban on anyone who was a religious leader/minister to hold any public office above Justice of the Peace. It also, made it very hard to change anything in the constitution by requiring a 2/3 vote by both houses and then to be resubmitted the following year's session also for another vote of both houses by 2/3 to get approval. On the positive however, it did get congress to set aside land in each township for a school and to set aside four sections of land for the construction of the state capital and another 36 sections to be set aside for the underwriting of the state university.

Once the statewide elections were held for Governor, Lt. Governor, and US House of Representatives, then State houses appointed the Senators. The first Governor was Alexander McNair, the first Lt. Governor was William H. Ashly of Potosi, MO, first US House member was John Scott of Ste. Genevieve, MO and then the appointed US Senate members were, David Barton, who had been president of the Constitutional convention and Thomas Hart Benton.

St. Charles, MO served briefly as the state capital until such time as the final one could be located. It was a five member commission who selected the present day location. Several others were possible choices but there were problems with each of them and by fate Jefferson City was finally located on the bluffs that rise above the Missouri River. The town was named in honor of President Jefferson who was key to developing this region. Jefferson City became the permanent capital in 1826.

As Barton, Benton and Scott made their way back to Washington, DC as the representatives for the new state of Missouri, some in the US capital were working hard to block the admission of Missouri as a state, even though it had been given approval earlier. There was a last ditch effort to block slavery. When Barton, Benton and Scott arrived they were not allowed to vote until things were sorted out, once again. In part was a debate over the Missouri Constitution blocking of admitting free Blacks and Mulattos into the state as citizens or to just live that was the crux of the problem. But in the end, Missouri was admitted anyway on 10 Aug. 1821.

Business in Missouri

By the 1820's Missouri's fur business was flourishing. Companies were advertising for traders and trappers to go to the Rocky Mountains and bring back goods to St. Louis for shipment and trading there. Between 1822 and 1826 the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, of St. Louis, MO earned a profit of $250,000. Some of the better known trappers of the period who came to St. Louis and of course left were, Jedediah Strong Smith, James Beckworth, a mulatto, Jim Bridger (there is a Jr. High School in Independence, MO named after him) and Kit Carson.

The Santa Fe trail became a popular trade route out of Westport aka Possum Trot and Independence, MO which lays 12 miles east of present day Kansas City, MO. This trail brought many trade goods and money to the region, not to mention people.

Then with the concept of Manifest Destiny which was proclaimed the people and the goods started flowing into Missouri. Some came and stayed, others just passed though. Later the California gold rush and the push for the lands in Oregon added to the stream of people and goods. Independence, Missouri became the best known jumping off point to those places in the west and was where the three trails met.

Men, women and families from all over the world and all religions passed though the area and settled in Missouri. The started Synagogue's and churches. The Mormon's came, also. With each of these groups came new ideas and new blood to build the state.

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