History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 22

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220

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"Approved January 24th, 1827."

The terms of this act, to wit : " The several townships of land here- tofore secured by compact to the State of Missouri, for the purpose of a seminary or seminaries of learning in that State," seemed farther to complicate the difficulty, and therefore farther correspondence with the General Land Office became necessary.

Availing ourself again of the courtesy of Senator Cockrell, we pro- pounded, through him, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office certain questions, the purpose of which was to elicit an expla- nation of the difficulty we encountered in understanding not only the act of March 6, 1820, but that of January 24, 1827. This corre- spondence brought to view another new and important fact, new, at least to us, and certainly one which has not attained any prominence, or even recognition in the public discussions of this subject in Mis- souri, namely, that three years anterior to the admission of Missouri into the Union, and by the third section of the act of Congress of February 17, 1818, two townships were directed to be located and reserved for the support of a seminary of learning in this State, and that one of these townships was authorized to be located on the waters of the Missouri, and the other on the waters of the Arkansas River. Also, that by an act passed March 2, 1827, a transfer of one township was made from the waters of the Arkansas to the Territory of Arkan- sas, leaving one township reserved for the Missouri Territory, which added to the one township granted by the act of March 6, 1820, made the two townships donated to this State, which the President, by the act of January 24, 1827, was directed to select for the use of a seminary of learning in the State of Missouri. For a clearer under- standing of the subject, we append the letter of the Commissioner of the General Land Office. dated July 15, 1882, as follows :-

LETTER OF HON. N. C. M'FARLAND.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C., July 15, 1882.

Hon. F. M. Cockrell, U. S. Senate :

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th instant, transmitting a letter from Wm. F. Switzler, dated at Columbia, Mo., July 10, 1882, in

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which, after referring to the Act of March 6, 1820, and January 24, 1827, granting lands to the State of Missouri, he asks the following questions, viz .:

1st. " How did we get two townships, and only two, when neither of the above cited acts provide for two in terms?"

2d. "What are ' the other lands heretofore received for that purpose '?"

In reply, I would state, that under the provision of the third section of the Act of Congress, approved February 17, 1818, entitled, "An Act making provision for the establishment of additional land offices in the Territory of Missouri," two townships were directed to be located and reserved for the support of a seminary of learning, provided that one of said townships shall be located on the waters of the Missouri and the other on the waters of the Arkansas.

By the fifth subdivision of the sixth section of the Act of March 6, 1820, one entire township, together with the other lands heretofore reserved for that purpose, was reserved for the use of a seminary of learning.

By the Act of March 2, 1827, entitled "An act concerning a seminary of learning in the Territory of Arkansas," authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to set apart two townships for the use and support of a seminary of learning, it is provided that one of said townships so set apart shall be "in lieu of an entire township of land directed to be located on the waters of the Arkansas River, in said Territory, for the use of a seminary of learning therein, by an act of Congress entitled, ' An act making provision for the establishment of additional land offices in the Territory of Missouri,' "' approved February the seventeenth, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen.

It will be seen from the above cited act, that one of the townships reserved for seminary purposes in the Territory of Missouri, and to be located on the waters of the Arkansas, was transferred to the Territory of Arkansas, leaving one township reserved for the former Territory, which, together with the additional township granted by the Act of March 6, 1820, made two townships which the President of the United States was directed to cause to be selected, under the Act of January 24, 1827, for the pur- pose of a seminary or seminaries of learning in the State of Missouri.

The letter of Mr. Switzler is herewith returned.

Very respectfully, N. C. MCFARLAND, Commissioner.

The policy of the General Government to aid the States in the work of education also found expression in the land grants made by the act of Congress of July 2, 1862, to the different States for the purpose of founding therein colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts.

The liberal school policy of the General Government, by land grants, was established by the ordinance of 1787, in the following language, to wit :-

And for extending the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws and constitutions are erected, etc., etc.

It is hereby enacted and declared, by the authority aforesaid, (i. e., of the United States in Congress assembled), that the following articles shall be considered as articles of compact between the original States and the people in the said Territory (northwest of the river Ohio), and forever remain unalterable, unless by common consent, to wit: *

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ARTICLE 3. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government. and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be- encouraged.

In the act of Congress of 1812, organizing the Territory of Missouri, this article of the ordinance of 1787 was carried across the Mississippi,. and somewhat amplified, as the following extract from that act shows :.

Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be encouraged and provided for from the public lands of the United States in said Territory, in such man- ner as Congress may deem expedient.

When the State of Missouri was organized out of this Territory, Congress deemed it expedient, as above stated, to devote two town- ships of land to a " seminary of learning or university," and one thirty-sixth of the entire public domain, together with saline and swamp lands, to " township (now district ) schools."

The higher education was thus identified with the lower, as coordi- nate and constituent parts of the public school work of Missouri, upon the original organization of the State.

It is the traditional and established policy of this State, however imperfectly realized hitherto, to support the University as the crown and glory of the public school system. This is an indisputable fact ; not by inference, but by the following explicit utterances, in the first and second sections of the sixth article of the first Constitution of the State, adopted in St. Louis, July 19, 1820, viz :

Schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged in this State. One school or more shall be established in each township. The General Assembly shall take measures for the improvement of such lands, etc., to support "A UNIVER- SITY for the promotion of literature and the arts and sciences, and it shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as may be, to provide effectual means *

* * for the improvement and permanent security of the funds and endowments of such institutions.

It is thus seen that the " Seminary of Learning" of the acts of Congress of 1818, 1820 and 1827 is the " University " of the first Constitution of the State, formed under the authority of the first act named.

Substantially the same idea as presented in the Constitution of 1820, is embodied in the State Constitution of 1865, as follows : -

4. The General Assembly shall also establish and maintain a State university, with departments for instructions in teaching in agriculture, and in natural science, as soon as the public school fund will permit.

The eleventh article of the Constitution of 1875 is still more liberal in its terms, and in more than one section recognizes the obligation of

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the General Assembly to maintain the State University and to regard its endowment, and the proceeds of the sales of the seminary lands, legally inviolable.

From the earliest history of Boone County and of its county seat, even while preliminary steps were taken in the spring of 1821 to establish the town of Columbia, the location of the State University in said town was entertained as a desirable consummation, and found expression in the report made to the Circuit Court by Lawrence Bass,1 John Gray, David Jackson, Absalom Hicks and Jefferson Fulcher, commissioners appointed by an act of the Legislature to locate the permanent seat of justice in said county. (For this report in full see pp. 161-2.) Quick to comprehend intelligently the provisions made in the enabling and other acts of Congress, as well as the provision in the Constitution adopted the year previous to the passage of the enabling act, the commissioners, among other donations of land for public purposes, made by the trustees of the Smithton Company, on the condition of the location of the county seat on the present site of Columbia was " ten acres conditional if the State University be estab- lished therein," said ten acre lot being just across the road, and south of the present residence of Jefferson Garth - the same now occupied and owned by Mrs. Stephen Bedford, and embracing per- haps the northern portion of the new cemetery.

From this period to the final accomplishment of the purpose in the location of the University at Columbia in 1839, the thoughtful and leading citizens of Boone County pursued their object with unfaltering steps. As we have already seen this is evidenced by the establish- ment of Columbia College, an enterprise which was largely inspired by the hope of making it the rallying point in the struggle and an in- ducement to locate the University or " State College " in Columbia. That this was one of the ulterior purposes to be accomplished through this agency is plainly disclosed by the preliminary steps as well as the more advanced measures and counsels connected with the college. The sequel demonstrated the far-seeing wisdom of the prudent and self-sacrificing men who originated and accom- plished the establishment of this institution. Without Columbia College and the education which it afforded not only its pupils proper, but the public mind of the county, the State University would never have been located in Columbia. That college, and the

1 Died in Boone County, April 27, 1856, aged seventy-six years.

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Columbia Female Academy, which was its handmaid in the cause of liberal education and liberal public thought, inspired the leading minds of the county with the darling purpose when the final struggle came, to outstrip all of her sister counties in the race of liberality and thus secure the inestimable boon of the State University. With Columbia College and the lessons of culture and public spirit with which it leavened the popular mind, the University was a possible achievement. Without them it was impossible.

What Columbia and the county of Boone were in 1834 may be. plainly seen by the testimony of the Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy 1 the editor of the St. Louis Observer, a disinterested witness, who, during the summer of that year travelled through the central counties, and for a short time stopped in Columbia. Mr. Lovejoy's sketch bears testi- mony to the interest which was then felt in the question by our peo- ple as well as to the feeling of general rivalry thus early existing between Boone and Howard on the subject of the University.

The following is his sketch : -

Columbia is the county seat of Boone County, and is a pretty, thriving village of about 700 inhabitants. It has nine stores, two taverns, four grog-shops, and but one meeting-house. Thus you see Bacchus has four temples - and I know not how many domestic altars - and God but one, in Columbia. The meeting-house belongs to the Presbyterians, is of brick, but is not finished. The Baptists and Unitarians are about. to commence building another in union. An odd mixture this, and one which can pro- duce no good. The Presbyterian Church consists of about eighty members. This church was principally gathered under the ministrations of brother Cochran, who is still affectionately remembered by them. Brother Gray succeeds him, both in labors and in the confidence and esteem of the people. In Columbia they have erected a. brick college, sixty feet by twenty-six, two stories high, and having six apartments. In this a male academy is taught - Mr. Robert S. Thomas, Principal, and Mr. S. Hart, Assistant. There is also a female academy taught in this place by Miss Lucy Ann Wales, assisted, at present, by a daughter of Gen. Gentry. This lady had acquired a high reputation as a teacher in Callaway, and she fully maintains it here.

In the two departments are 120 or 130 scholars. Besides these, there is another female school, taught by one of the ladies, who came on last fall as a missionary to the Indians, but whose health failed her, and she was left at this place. I understood, also, that still another was expected to be opened in a week or two.

On the subject of the State University, there is much conversation and considerable rivalry of feeling in the two counties of Boone and Howard. And in reference to this subject, they are bringing out some of their strongest men in the two counties for the next Legislature, as it is supposed that that body will act definitely on the subject. Between the rival claims of the two counties I shall not undertake to decide; but I can say what I most fully believe, that but little benefit will be derived to either, or to the State, from all the funds appropriated for a State University. And this opinion I

1 Mr. Lovejoy was shot and killed by a mob at Alton, Ill., on November 7, 1837.

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freely expressed to some of the prominent men in both the counties. I have no idea. that any Legislature that we are likely soon to have will establish a University on any principles that will insure, or even permit, its prosperity. They will yoke it to the car of State, and then it will be pulled forward, or pushed backward, according as this or that political party shall prevail. And in the turmoil and confusion attending: such a state of things learning and science will be frightened from its halls. Be assured that the muses will never endure the presence of a political stump-speech maker. Besides, our good legislators will be especially careful to exclude all secta- rianism from the University; and I doubt not they will contrive to make that term embrace every tenet of Christianity. Such, at least, are my fears; and I shall be agreeably disappointed, indeed, if they are not realized. The history of the Virginia. University might, but will not, be read for instruction on this subject.

It is worthy of note, in this connection, that the fears of Mr. Love- joy, that in the exclusion of sectarianism from the University Chris- tianity itself would be excluded, were groundless.

SALE OF SEMINARY LANDS.

On January 23, 1829, (see Session Acts 1828-9), an act was ap- proved which provided for the prosecution, fine, and imprisonment of trespassers on the seminary lands.

By an act approved December 31, 1830,1 provision was made for the sale of the seminary lands. It was made the duty of the Gov- ernor of the State, or his successor in office for the time being, after giving six months previous notice thereof, in the several newspapers published in this State, to cause the lands granted to the State for seminary purposes, to be offered at public sale to the highest bidder ; upon this condition, however, that the same shall not be sold for a less- price than two dollars per acre, and the sales of the said lands shall be- conducted in every other respect, under the same regulations as the public lands of the United States.

By the same act John B. Swearengen was made register and Sam- uel.C. Owens receiver for the purpose of superintending the lands in the United States Western district ; James Jamison, register, and Henry Lane, receiver, in the Salt river district, and William Garner, register, and Robert F. Brown, receiver, in the Cape Girardeau district, each of whom was required to give bond.

The sales of land in the Western district, were held in Indepen- dence, commencing on the first Monday in December, 1831; in the Salt river district in Palmyra on the second Monday in November,.

1 See Session Acts 1830-1, p. 86.

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1831 ; and in the Cape Girardeau district in Benton, Scott county, on the first Monday in November of the same year.

On January 17, 1831,1 an act was approved which provided for annexing to the town of Independence, laying off into lots, and mak- ing sale of eighty acres of seminary lands adjoining said town. Said sale commencing on the first Monday in December, 1832, openly to the highest bidder, under the superintendence of a commissioner appointed by the Governor, said act providing that no lot of one acre or less should be sold for less than $10, nor any lot of more than one acre for less than $5 per acre.

ACT OF DECEMBER 31, 1830, REVIVED.

January 29, 1833,2 an act was approved reviving the act to pro- vide for the sale of the seminary lands, approved December 31, 1830, and it authorized public sales of the lands at Independence, Palmyra, and Benton in the months October, November and December, 1833. Abraham McClellan was appointed commissioner of the sales at Independence, Henry Wilcox at Palmyra, and John Moore at Ben- ton. All lands not thus sold at public sale were thereafter subject to private entry or purchase.

The commissioner of the Western district was directed at the close of the public sales to offer to the highest bidder the town lots remain- ing unsold in the annexed portion of the town of Independence, pursuant to the act approved January 17, 1831.

On the 17th March, 1835,3 an act of the Legislature was approved to take effect the first day of May thereafter, providing for the sale, at private entry, of the seminary lands, in the same manner, at the same price, and under the same regulations as the United States lands were then disposed of, at private sales.

By the terms of the act, John Moore, of Scott county, for the Cape Girardeau land district ; Henry Wilcox of the Salt River district and Smallwood Nolan of Jackson county for the Western district were made commissioners to superintend the sale of these lands, each giv- ing bonds of not less than $5,000. Moneys received by them from said sales to be paid into the State treasury every twelve months, the

1 See Session Acts 1830-1, p. 91.

See Session Acts 1832-3, p. 116. 2

3 See Revised Statutes 1835, p. 576. ,

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treasurer to keep the same " as a distinct fund for the purposes for which said lands were accepted " by the State.

During the session of the eighth Legislature, which convened in Jef- ferson City November 17, 1834-John Jamison, of Callaway, Speaker of the House ; James B. Bowlin, of St. Louis, Chief Clerk, and Joseph W. Hickam, of Boone (who is still alive and a citizen of Boone), En grossing Clerk-the question of the location of the University received much attention. The Intelligencer, of December 6, 1834, says : " We are much gratified to learn from Jefferson that Columbia stands high with the Legislature as the most suitable location for the State Col- lege." Nevertheless, owing to the rivalries which existed between various counties, a majority in neither house was able to agree upon a location, and the Legislature adjourned without making one.

SEMINARY LANDS.

The first session of the ninth General Assembly met November 21, 1836 - John Jamison again Speaker of the House ; Thomas C. Burch, Chief Clerk ; Richard B. Jackson, Doorkeeper, and Joseph W. Hick- am, of Boone, Engrossing Clerk, without opposition. Again the University was one of the topics for discussion, and with increased prominence.

On November 25th, Austin A. King, one of the members from Boone, introduced the following resolutions in regard to the semin- ary fund : -

[From the House Journal, November 25, 1836, page 59.]

1. Resolved, That the proceeds of the seminary fund ought to be appropriated to rearing up a seminary of learning in this State, in conformity with the compact with the United States and the Constitution of this State.

2. Resolved, That such an institution as is contemplated by the compact and by the State Constitution, where the young men of the State could receive a competent education to qualify them for teachers of common schools, would aid and promote a sound system of common school education.

3. Resolved, Under the compact and Constitution of the State, the present youth of the country are justly entitled to participate in the benefits of the seminary fund, and that the proceeds thereof ought to be vested in some productive stock yielding an interest for the building up and endowing said institution at as early a day as practi- cable.

4. Resolved, therefore, That the foregoing proposition be referred to the Committee on Education, and that said committee be authorized to report by bill or otherwise.

Adam B. Chambers, of Pike, afterwards well known in Missouri

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as one of the proprietors and chief editors of the St. Louis Repub- lican, moved to lay the resolutions on the table, which motion was rejected, and the resolutions were passed.

During the same session of the Legislature, and on January 5, 1837, Mr. Abraham Hunter, of Scott (page 249) introduced a resolution, which passed, requesting the Governor to inform the House " if any, and what number of acres of seminary land is due this State from the United States, showing the quantity of acres selected and re- served for seminary purposes, and the quantity yet to be selected." On January 16, 1837, the Governor (Lilburn W. Boggs) responded (page 302) that there had been selected and reserved 45,411-99 acres, and that there remained to be selected 618217 acres to com- plete the quantity of 72 sections of land acquired by this State from the United States for a seminary of learning.

THE LANDS SELECTED - WHERE SITUATED - AND THE ACT OF CON- GRESS OF JANUARY 24, 1827,

On January 24, 1837 (page 343), Mr. Chambers, from the Commit- tee on Education, reported a bill to incorporate the University, which was read and ordered to a second reading. Mr. Chambers, from the same committee, also reported that they had considered the petitions of the President and Directors of " Howard College," Fayette, and that from the provisions of the above bill, providing for the erection of a State University, it would be inexpedient to act on said petition. Report concurred in and committee discharged from further consid- eration of the subject.

Three days afterward (page 375), on motion of Mr. Redman, of Howard, the bill to incorporate the State University was recommitted to the Committee on Education, without instructions. This is the last that was heard of it during the session, which closed Feb- ruary 6th.

The last session of the General Assembly having failed to locate the State University, the subject again came up during the Tenth Session, which met in Jefferson City on November 19th, 1838 : Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor ; Franklin Cannon, Lieutenant-Governor and Presi- dent of the Senate ; James L. Minor, Secretary ; William Woods, doorkeeper ; Thomas H. Harvey, Speaker of the House ; Micajah V. Harrison, Clerk ; Joseph W. Hickam, of Boone, Engrossing Clerk, Senators from Boone - Thomas C. Maupin and A. W. Turner. Rep-

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resentatives - David M. Hickman, James S. Rollins, Alexander Persinger, Tyre Harris and John B. Gordon.

The subject of the State University occupied a prominent place in the deliberations of this session. Among the proceedings of interest. it may be mentioned that on December 7th, 1838, David R. Atchison, of Clay county (afterwards United States Senator), offered a resolu- tion in the House that "it is expedient to locate a State Seminary at this session." John Miller, of Cooper, moved to amend by placing the prefix " in " before the word " expedient," whereupon a debate ensued, which was not concluded till the next day. Benjamin Young, of Callaway, offered the following amendment : " That such Seminary be located at such place, and under such circumstances, as will admit of the introduction of the manual labor system," which was rejected. What became of Mr. Miller's amendment the journal does not show. The original resolution passed -ayes, 62; nays, 29, the members from Boone voting aye. (See pages 90 and 91. ) On motion of Mr. Atchison, the bill to establish a State University, introduced by John P. Morris, of Howard, together with the resolutions on the same sub- ject, be referred to the Committee on Education (Benjamin Emmons, of St. Charles, chairman), with instructions to report a bill organizing and endowing a State University. (Page 93.)

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History of Boone County, Missouri., Part 22

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1220

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: St. Louis, Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1220