Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 8

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074

USA > Missouri > Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I > Part 8

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According to the Enquirer, the promulgation of the constitution was made an impressive public event.

"The constitution of the State of Missouri was signed at noonday on Wednesday, the 19th instant, amidst a great concourse of citizens, and under a national salute of twenty-four guns, fired by the St. Louis Guards.

"The entire instrument is published in this day's paper, to the exclusion of other matter, and we trust will be joyfully received by the people as the proof that Missouri is a sovereign state and as a pledge that she will remain so."

A few days later, McNair, in announcing himself as candidate for governor, addressed his, "Fellow Citizens of the new State of Missouri."

Fourth of July Defiance.

According to a report in the Enquirer, these toasts were approved at the celebration of the Fourth of July, 1820, in St. Louis :

"The State of Missouri-the last created member of the Federal Compact-may she, like the after-piece of universal creation, be the acknowledged Head of the Union! By the vice-president."

"The People of Missouri-Willing to contend for their just rights with moderation, ready to defend them at the point of the bayonet !"

"The State of Missouri-A bright link in the chain of the Union-her laws are mild, her sons brave; if any doubt it let them come and try."

These toasts were printed in the East and prompted some criticism. Niles' Register said:

"Persons warmed by a luscious feast of good things ofttimes express them- selves imprudently, and what they say is forgiven or forgotten as the ebulition of a moment-but when sentiments like the following are reduced to writing and deliberately printed in a public newspaper, they should not be passed over so lightly."

Under the caption, "Imprudence-or Worse," Niles' Register took up the

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

intimations that Missourians proposed to stand on their rights and commented in the issue of August 26, 1820:

"The St. Louis Enquirer, intimating that the restrictionists intend to renew their de- signs at the next session of Congress, says-Missouri will then appear 'as a sovereign state, according to the law of Congress, and not as a territorial orphan'; that her people will, in that case, 'give fresh proof to the world that they know their rights and are able to defend them.' What signifies such language as this? All things considered, we wish that the Missouri question may be suffered to rest where it is, as the lesser evil, but, if Congress wishes to take it up again, and refuses to admit the territory under the con- stitution which its convention has formed and is without power to enforce its determina- tion, it is high time, indeed, that a new organization of affairs should take place."

State Government Established in 1820.

McNair was elected governor by 6,576 votes against 2,656 for Clark. The governor appeared before the general assembly September 19, 1820, and deliv- ered his inaugural. In the course of it he said:

"I congratulate you, gentlemen, in the happy change which has just taken place in our political affairs. From the dependent condition of a territorial government, we have passed into a sovereign and independent state .. We have formed for ourselves a constitution, which, though perhaps not free from the imperfections incident to all human institutions, does honor to the character and intelligence of our infant state, and gives us every reason to expect that we shall, without further difficulty, be admitted into the federal Union."

So well satisfied was the governor that Missouri had become a state and would be immediately recognized as in the Union, that his principal recom- mendation in this address was that the general assembly proceed to pass the legislation necessary for participation in the presidential election. He said :

"It is deemed advisable to remind you that the election of president and vice-president is approaching, and that it will be necessary to make provision as soon as possible for the election of three electors in this state, in order that we may have a voice in filling those highly important offices."

One of the earliest laws passed by the general assembly provided that the electors should be chosen by the assembly.

A Veto Overruled.

The general assembly of the new state proceeded promptly with the enact- ment of statutes. The first law, passed September 28, 1820, prescribed the manner of electing United States senators. The second law set forth the duties of sheriffs, and the third incorporated an academy for Jackson. With the fourth law, the general assembly struck the veto snag. This statute fixed the compensation of members of the legislature at four dollars a day with mileage at the rate of three dollars for every twenty-five miles traveled. An extra dollar a day was allowed the president of the senate and speaker of the house. Governor McNair refused to approve and sent in his objection, which was that the amount was excessive. The lawmakers passed the bill over the governor's veto and it became a law on the 19th of October, 1820.

Missourians held sturdily to the belief that statchood had been fully estab- lished in 1820. When he returned to Washington, in the fall of that year,

THE TRAVAIL OF STATEHOOD

John Scott, who had been a territorial delegate in the previous session of Con- gress, insisted on being addressed as a representative in Congress, by virtue of the election which Missouri had held under the new state constitution. The Missouri Gazette which had been conservative, much more so than the En- quirer for which Benton wrote the editorials, made this comment in January, 1821, on the action of the House of Representatives which was delaying the proclamation of admission :

"Congress may look out of the window, if they choose, and say to a territory, 'If you wish to become a member of the Union put on the garments you would wear, and if we like them, we will open the door of the Union and admit you.' By this overture Congress have reserved to themselves the power of further act as necessary to admission.

"But if they should say, as they have to Missouri, 'The door is open to you; if you wish to become one of the sisterhood of states, put on your garments and enter'-Missouri having done so she is installed with the rights of a member of the sisterhood. Their Constitution embraces her. Congress cannot expel her. If her garments have any flounces or furbelows which the Constitution of the sisterhood does not permit, the only conse- quence is that she is not allowed to use them.

"That this is the true construction of the act of Congress and the act of our state there can be no doubt. Missouri is a state of the Union equal in sovereignty to her sister states; the denial of any of the rights of sovereignty, and especially a participation in the councils of the nation is a violation of the Constitution."

The Only Condition in the Enabling Act.

The first section of the act approved March 6, 1820, for the admission of Missouri provided "that the inhabitants of that portion of Missouri included within the boundaries hereinafter designated, be, and they are hereby, author- ized to form for themselves a Constitution and State Government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper; and the said State, when formed, shall be admitted into the Union, upon an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatsoever."

The act set forth the boundaries of the state, the representation of the several counties in a constitutional convention and the time of holding such convention. It further declared: "That, in case a constitution and state gov- ernment shall be formed for the people of the said territory of Missouri, the said convention, or representatives, as soon thereafter as may be, shall cause a true and attested copy of said constitution, or frame of state government, as shall be formed or provided, to be transmitted to Congress."

There was one slight condition imposed on the action of Missouri and that was, "Provided that the same, whenever formed shall be Republican, and not repugnant to the Constitution of the United States."

Before the constitution of Missouri reached Congress, Niles' Register pointed out that the clause directing the legislature to pass laws "to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming into and settling in the state, on any pretence whatever" would block admission into the Union. The Register cited the provision in the Constitution of the United States, "that the citizens of each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several states." The Register continued :

"This is a very plain, simple and imperative sentence. Free blacks and mulattoes are 'citizens' in all the states, I believe, east of the state of Delaware. Vol. 1-4

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

as well as in the states northwest of the river Ohio, and they cannot be dis- possessed of their right to locate where they please."

The Register said that if Missouri did pass such laws as its constitution demanded, they would be declared unconstitutional by the United States Su- preme Court, and thus disposed of. But it made the point that Congress could not now consistently approve a state constitution which contained a provision "in evident opposition to a striking provision in the Constitution under which they, themselves, directly act." The Register's prediction was verified by the course of Congress in insisting upon the so-called "solemn public act."

Senator Benton Becomes Conservative.

After Benton had been elected to the Senate, the editorials of the St. Louis Enquirer underwent some change. While the two houses of Congress were still divided on the question of admission because of the clauses in the Mis- souri constitution prohibiting the admission of free negroes into Missouri. and while Benton was waiting to take his seat, in the winter of 1821, the En- quirer gave Missourians conservative advice :

"This paper has labored for a long time to awaken the people to the criminal designs of the men who wish to expel Missouri from the Union. This audacious undertaking is now verging to a crisis. What shall Missouri do if rejected? Fall back into the terri- torial grade? We hope not. Set up for herself? We hope not. The former would be to succumb to the Catalines of the North; the latter would be to promote their views. The restrictionists wish to divide the Union; and if Missouri would attempt to break off, it would be into their hand; their object would be accomplished and the blame thrown upon her. But let Missouri continue her efforts to enter the Union, preserve all her rela- tions with the general government as far as her amphibious condition will permit it to be done; be calm and dignified in asserting her rights, and a reaction may be produced which will prostrate those Hartford convention men who now predominate in the North, and give the victory to the friends of the Union and to the republicans of the Jeffersonian school. Eventually, Missouri must succeed, and good may grow out of evil; the men who have raised this portentous storm may yet perish in it. Let Missouri preserve all her friends; do nothing to mortify them, or to please her enemies, and the sober reason of the people must ultimately resume its empire and consign to infamy the men who have sought their own aggrandizement upon the ruins of their country."

In other, fewer and modern words, what Senator Benton advised for Mis- souri, in its anomalous condition of statehood outside of the Union, was "watch- ful waiting."

Notwithstanding the hitch at Washington over admission, Missouri con- tinued to assert statehood. The circuit court for the county of St. Louis began its first session on the 18th of December, 1820. The lawyers presented and dis- cussed various questions of law raised by the strange situation. The court decided that-

"The state government was not only theoretically formed, but in full and constitutional operation, as regarded the Constitution of the United States and that of the State of Missouri."

Missouri's Electoral Vote.

All of the winter of 1821 the controversy over Missouri's status went on at Washington. There were Congressmen who insisted that Missouri was in the

THE TRAVAIL OF STATEHOOD

Union. There were others who argued that the constitution which had been put into force by the new state must be annulled and another organic act must be framed. And there were still others who took ground between these extremes. The Senate was satisfied and marked time on the Missouri Ques- tion, while the House talked and talked on the various propositions which Mr. Clay brought forward. The 17th of February approached, when the electoral votes must be counted. To avoid bringing the Missouri Question into the joint session, the Senate passed this resolution :

"That if any objection be made to the votes of Missouri, and the counting, or omit- ting to count which shall not essentially change the result of the election; in that case they shall be reported by the president of the Senate in the following manner: Were the votes of Missouri to be counted, the result would be for A. B. for President of the United States-votes; if not counted, for A. B. for President of the United States- votes; but in either event A. B. is elected President of the United States; and in the same manner for Vice-President."

When Mr. Clay tried to get the House to agree to this compromise, he en- countered strenuous opposition, the extremists on one side insisting against any recognition of Missouri's votes; those on the other side demanding full recogni- tion of Missouri as a state in the Union. But a few minutes before the time set for the joint session, the form was agreed to by the House.

The House voted to "receive the Senate standing and uncovered." So the resolution read. The joint session opened and the reading of the electoral returns went on according to routine until Missouri was reached. Then Mr. Livermore, of New Hampshire, arose and said: "Mr. President and Mr. Speaker, I object to receiving any votes for President and Vice-President from Missouri, because Missouri is not a state in the Union." That started trouble. The Senate, with dignity, retired. Mr. Floyd, of Virginia offered a resolution, "that Missouri is one of the states of this Union, and her votes for President and Vice-President ought to be received."

The wrangle went on for an hour. Niles' Register said of the turmoil: "It is impossible to give such an account as ought to be given: Mr. Clay at last got the upper hand of the warring factions and the Senate was invited to come back. The official proceedings were:

Randolph Caught Again.

"The votes of Missouri were read, and the result of all the votes having been read- "The president of the Senate announced that the total number of votes for James Monroe, as President of the United States, was 231, and, if the votes of Missouri were not counted, was 228; that in either event James Monroe had a majority of the whole number of votes given; and in the same form announced that Daniel D. Tompkins had a majority of the whole number of votes for Vice-President of the United States.

"The president then proclaimed that James Monroe is elected President of the United States for four years, commencing on the fourth day of March next, and that Daniel D. Tompkins is elected Vice-President of the United States for four years from the fourth day of March next.

"While this proclamation was making, two members of the House of Representatives claimed the floor, to enquire whether the votes of Missouri were or were not counted, apparently with a view of founding some proposition on the answer.

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

"Here arose a scene of some confusion, which resulted in the gentlemen being de- clared out of order, and required by the Speaker of the House to resume their seats.

"The president of the Senate having finished the annunciation, the Senate retired, leaving Mr. Randolph on the floor attempting to be heard by the chair.

"The House being called to order-

"Mr. Randolph, after a few remarks, suggested a motion respecting the votes from Missouri, which he reduced to writing, as follows :

"I. Resolved, That the electoral votes of the state of Missouri have this day been counted, and do constitute a part of the majority of 231 votes given for President, and of 218 votes given for Vice-President.

"2. Resolved, That the whole number of electors appointed, and of votes given for President and Vice-President, has not been announced by the presiding officers of the Senate and House of Representatives, agreeably to the Constitution of the United States, and that therefore the proceeding has been irregular and illegal.

"Whilst writing these resolves-

"A motion for adjournment was made.

"Here arose another scene of unusual character, a gentleman claiming to have pos- session of the floor before the motion for adjournment was made.

"The Speaker decided to the contrary however, and the question on adjournment was decided, by yeas, and nays.

"For the adjournment, 95

"Against, 60.

"So the yeas had it; and

"the House adjourned."

Senator Cockrell's Researches.

Two years and two months after Missouri's petition for statehood was pre- sented to Congress the Missouri Compromise was passed. It was greeted by Missourians as the birth of statehood. But a year and four months was to pass before admission to the Union was "complete," to quote the word used by President Monroe in his proclamation of August 10, 1821. Francis M. Cockrell traced the devious legislative way of Missouri's admission to the Union,-devious even after the Missouri Compromise was supposed to have disposed finally of the Missouri Question. Senator Cockrell went to original sources for his information. He did it in the thorough, careful manner which characterized him throughout the thirty years of his United States senatorship. Thereby he rendered signal service to Missouri history :

"Congress, by act of March 6, 1820, authorized the inhabitants of that portion of the Missouri Territory therein described 'to form for themselves a constitution and state government, and to assume such name as they shall deem proper,' for admission into the Union upon an equal footing with the original states, fixed the first Monday of May, 1820, and the two next succeeding days for the election of representatives to form a convention, and the second Monday of June, 1820, for the meeting of the convention, and by section 8 prohibited slavery in all the rest of that territory north of 36 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude, which was called the 'Missouri Compromise' and adopted after a prolonged and bitter controversy.

"The representatives to the convention were elected on the first Monday of May and the two succeeding days, being the first, second and third days, and met in St. Louis on the second Monday in June, being the twelfth day of June, 1820, and completed their labors on July 19, 1820, and passed an ordinance declaring the assent of Missouri to the five con- ditions of the enabling act of March 6, 1820, contained in the sixth section of said act, and transmitted to Congress a true and attested copy of such constitution.

"The constitution so adopted on July 19, 1820, required the president of the convention

JOSEPH ROBIDOUX Founder of St. Joseph

Cu. INIŲ

ST. JOSEPH IN 1867

THE TRAVAIL OF STATEHOOD

to issue writs of election to the sheriffs directing elections to be held on the fourth Mon- day-the 28th day-of August, 1820, for the election of a governor, lieutenant-governor, representative in Congress, state senators and representatives, and county officers.

"It required the general assembly to meet in St. Louis on the third Monday-the 18th day-of September, 1820, and on the first Monday in November, 1821, and on the first Monday in November, 1822, and thereafter every two years.

"Section 26 of the constitution, referring to the general assembly, declared: 'It shall be their duty as soon as may be to pass such laws as may be necessary to prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in this state under any pretext what- ever.'

"The election for state and other officers was held in August and the first general assembly met in St. Louis September 18, 1820, and the governor and lieutenant-governor elected were duly inaugurated and entered upon their duties, and the senate and house of representatives were duly organized and proceeded with their business, and on October 2, 1820, elected David Barton and Thomas H. Benton senators from that state, Benton being elected by one majority. The whole machinery of state and county governments was completed and put in operation before the state was admitted into the Union.

"On November 14, 1820, the day after Congress convened, the President of the United States sent to the Senate a copy of the constitution so adopted.

"On motion of Senator Smith, it was ordered that 'a committee be appointed to inquire if any, and if any what, legislative measure may be necessary for admitting the State of Missouri into the Union.' And a committee of three was appointed, and the copy of the constitution was referred to the committee and ordered printed. On November 16, 1820, in the House of Representatives, Mr. Scott, who was the delegate in Congress from the Territory of Missouri elected to the Sixteenth Congress and who had been elected the representative to the Seventeenth Congress beginning March 4, 1821, presented a manu -! script attested copy of the constitution to the House, and it was referred to a select com- mittee of three.

"A long and heated controversy arose in the House and in the Senate over the clause in the constitution which I have quoted.

"Many measures were proposed and discussed from time to time.

"Finally on the 22nd day of February, 1821, Mr. Clay moved the adoption by the House of a resolution as follows :

"'Resolved, That a committee be appointed on the part of this House, jointly with such committee as may be appointed on the part of the Senate, to consider and report to the Senate and House, respectively, whether it be expedient or not to make provision for the admission of Missouri into the Union on the same footing as the original states, and for the due execution of the laws of the United States within Missouri; and if not, whether any other, and what, provision adapted to her actual condition ought to be made by law.'

"This resolution was passed by the House on the same day hy yeas 101 and nays 55.

"Mr. Clay moved that the committee consist of 23 members, to be elected by ballot, which was agreed to.

"On February 23 a ballot was had, and 17 members were elected on the first ballot. Mr. Clay then moved the rescinding of the order as to the selection of the remaining six members, which was agreed to, and the six remaining members were appointed by the Speaker.

"On February 24 the resolution of the House was reported to the Senate, taken up, and passed by yeas 29, nays 7, and a committee of seven appointed on the part of the Senate.

"On February 26 Mr. Clay, from the joint committee, reported to the House a joint resolution, which was read the first and second times and laid on the table; and after- wards, on same day, considered and passed by yeas, 109; nays, 50.

"On February 27 the resolution was reported to the Senate and read twice by unanimous consent, and was ordered read a third time by yeas 26, nays 15.

"On February 28 the resolution was read the third time in the Senate, and passed by yeas 28, nays 14, and was approved by the President, March 2, 1821, as follows :

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSOURI

" 'Resolution providing for the admission of the State of Missouri into the Union on a certain condition.

"'Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Missouri shall be admitted into this Union on an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatever upon the fundamental condi- tion that the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section of the third article of the constitu- tion, submitted on the part of said state to Congress, shall never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by which any citizen of either of the states in this Union shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which such citizen is entitled under the Con- stitution of the United States :

"A Solemn Public Act" Demanded.

"'Provided. That the legislature of said state, by a solemn public act, shall declare the assent of the said state to the said fundamental condition, and shall transmit to the President of the United States on or before the fourth Monday in November next an authentic copy of the said act; upon the receipt whereof the President, by proclamation, shall announce the fact; whereupon, and without any further proceeding on the part of Congress, the admission of the said state into this Union shall be considered as complete.'

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Centennial history of Missouri (the center state) one hundred years in the Union, 1820-1921, Volume I, Part 8

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939 Publication date: 1921 Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company Number of Pages: 1074

Author: Stevens, Walter Barlow, 1848-1939
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: St. Louis, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 1074