USA > Missouri > Missouri the center state, 1821-1915 > Part 4
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In a few years the Grand river country became too civilized or, perhaps, better, too thickly settled for Ringtail Parmer. Not long after his service in the Missouri legislature Parmer moved to Texas.
Governor McNair was not a man to be disturbed by occasional unparlia- mentary practice or the anomalous condition of the State that was not yet a State. He was at college in Philadelphia when his father died. On his return home an issue arose between a younger brother and himself as to the head of the family and the control of the estate. The Spartan mother decided to leave it to a test of physical superiority. The younger won. Alexander McNair went into the army, served a short time and came west to grow up with the country.
When, after the three and one-half years of waiting, Missouri became a State, Governor McNair was not deterred by the McGirk-Green incident from congrat- ulating Missourians on the capacity for self-government they had shown in the interim. "Since the organization of this government," the governor said in his message to the legislature, "we have exhibited to the American people a spectacle novel and peculiar-an American republic on the confines of the federal Union, exercising all the powers of sovereign government, with no actual political con- nection with the United States, and nothing to bind us to them but a reverence for the same principles and an habitual attachment to them and their government."
CHAPTER II. THREE ORGANIC ACTS.
Missouri's Constitutions-The Framers in 1820-Three Bartons and Two Bates Brothers- -Their Effective Activities in State Making-Personal Characteristics-"Little Red" -- David Barton's Marriage Ceremony-Missouri Follows Kentucky-Benton's Explana- tion-The Cloth Ineligible for Office-An "Immortal Instrument"-The Second Constitu- tional Convention-The Framers in 1845-Their Work Rejected by a Decisive Vote- Proposition to Make St. Louis the National Capital-"A Ridiculous Blunder"-First Plan of Constitutional Emancipation-Too Slow for the Radicals-Convention of 1865 -Slavery Abolished-Dr. Eliot's Prayer of Thanksgiving-The "Oath of Loyalty"- Charles D. Drake-Wholesale Disfranchisement of Southern Sympathizers-Educational Test of Suffrage-"Girondists" and "Jacobins"-Senator Vest's Description-Blair's Denunciation-Supreme Court Decision-The Test Oath Unconstitutional-Rapid Re- action from the Policy of Proscription-Political Downfall of Drake Planned-How Schurs Became a Candidate-"The Feeler" Worked-An Oratorical Trap Which Set- tled a Senatorship-Convention of 1875-An Able Body-Colonel William F. Switsler's Distinction-The "Strait Jacket Constitution."
No person while he continues to exercise the functions of a bishop, priest, clergyman, or teacher of any religious persuasion, denomination, society or sect whatsoever, shall be eligible to either house of the general assembly; nor shall he be appointed to any office of profit within the State, the office of justice of the peace excepted .- First Constitution of Missouri.
Missouri has had three organic acts. Missourians lived under their first con- stitution forty-five years. The third constitution has worn fairly well through forty years. Between these two the State struggled with a misfit. David Barton was president of the first constitutional convention. Edward Bates was a member, He had so much to do with the framing that in after years the instrument was called "the Bates constitution." It is tradition that many of the sections of the original draft were in the handwriting of Barton. Three Bartons and two Bates brothers had a great deal to do in various ways with the making of Missouri, the State. Their activites even in the territorial period were notable.
Constitution Framers.
Edward and Frederick Bates were from Goochland County, Virginia. The Quaker descent did not restrain their father from serving under Washington in the Revolution. Neither did it stand in the way of the son of Edward Bates, Lieutenant General John C. Bates, choosing the profession of a soldier and rising to the highest rank in the United States army. When not of age Edward Bates enlisted as a private soldier and served in the war of 1812. After his discharge from the army he came to St. Louis, following his brother, Frederick, who had come some years earlier. It is one of the traditions that Frederick Bates was given one of the earliest Federal appointments at St. Louis and was sent here by Thomas Jefferson to watch Aaron Burr and to report confidentially what he was accomplishing in the new territory.
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MISSOURI, THE CENTER STATE
Edward Bates was a seventh son. There were twelve children in his father's family. The genealogical tree of the Bates family in this country went back to the colony at Jamestown. Edward wanted to go into the navy. His mother opposed him. He compromised with her by serving six months in the army during the war of 1812. When he was twenty he came to St. Louis. With a good academic education obtained at Charlotte Hall, with but little means, he went into a law office, Rufus Easton's, on Third street, and studied law. His rise to distinction after his admission in 1816 was very rapid. In 1823 Judge Bates was married to Miss Julia D. Coalter. He had seventeen children. Within a short time after his admission to the bar he was district attorney for Missouri. Among the positions he filled while a young man were delegate to the constitutional convention, attorney general for the state, member of the legisla- ture, United States district attorney, and member of Congress. He held other official positions afterwards, but he refused many, preferring to practice his pro- fession. President Millard Fillmore nominated Edward Bates to be his secre- tary of war and the Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment but it was declined. Devotion to the cause of the Union prompted acceptance of the place in the Lincoln cabinet. Missouri had presented the name of Edward Bates for the Presidential nomination at Chicago in 1860.
The manners of Edward Bates were most pleasing. In stature the great advocate was not large. He wore ruffles, blue broadcloth and brass buttons in the days when that style of dress was fashionable in the legal profession. He was smooth shaven, had bright black eyes and made friends who were devoted to him. With all of his years at the bar and in politics, Edward Bates never fought a duel nor was challenged. When he was in Congress, Bates was the recipient of attention which seemed insulting from McDuffie, the South Carolinian. He sent a demand for an explanation and was given one that friends deemed en- tirely satisfactory.
David, Joshua and Isaac Barton were three of the six sons of a Baptist minister of North Carolina. The Rev. Isaac Barton was an associate of John Sevier's patriots who won the victory at King's Mountain, a battle of the Revolu- tion which impressed the British government more than almost any other engage- ment with the invincible courage of the Americans. David Barton became the first judge of the circuit court of St. Louis ; Joshua the first United States district attorney of St. Louis; and Isaac the first clerk of the United States district court of St. Louis. David was elected to the United States Senate. Joshua Bar- ton was killed in the duel with Rector. Isaac Barton continued clerk of the United States district court more than twenty-one years. The brothers had read common law and were acquainted with the English system. When they arrived in St. Louis they found themselves disqualified to practice under the civil law which had been continued in force. A territorial legislature was elected. The Bartons with the half a dozen other American lawyers who had come to St. Louis had influence enough to wipe out the old code. They got through an act which was made the basis upon which the statutes of Missouri are founded. What they did was to pass an act making the common law of England and certain British statutes not inconsistent with the Constitution and statutes of the United States, the law of Missouri Territory. That was done in 1816. The American lawyers were then ready for clients.
RESIDENCE OF JOHN P. CABANNE, BUILT IN 1819
1142987
RESIDENCE OF THOMAS F. RIDDICK, 1818
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RESIDENCE OF MAJOR WILLIAM CHRISTY, BUILT OF STONE, 1818
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THREE ORGANIC ACTS
Circuit judges were authorized to perform the marriage ceremony when the courts were established under American authority. David Barton, the first circuit judge, had a form which was marvelously brief. The parties stood up.
The judge-" ---- -, do you take - to be your wife?"
The man-"I do."
The judge-"- do you take
to be your husband?"
The woman-"I do."
The judge-"The contract is complete. I pronounce you man and wife."
David Barton came to St. Louis just about the time the rangers, who were the rough riders of the war of 1812, were being organized. He joined the command and served with it. Barton was chosen without opposition the first United States Senator. The legislature deadlocked on the second place. Barton was allowed to name his associate and chose Benton. Thus it occurred that, although there were several strong men from other States, the two United States Senators chosen at St. Louis were from North Carolina.
Barton was known as "Little Red." He got the name when he delivered a speech which made him famous throughout the country. The Senate chamber was crowded. Barton had taken sides against the Jackson policies. His arraign- ment and condemnation of the administration for years ranked as one of the greatest speeches heard in the Senate. The audience became intensely excited. At the close, while people were crowding out of the gallery, there came a mighty shout, "Hurrah for the little red!" This was repeated again and again in the corridors of the capitol by the Missouri frontiersman who had been a listener. When the man became calm enough to explain he said the original "little red" was a game rooster he owned which could whip any fighting cock pitted against him. When he heard Senator Barton "putting his licks" in the Jackson crowd and "bringing them down every flutter" he couldn't help thinking of the victories of his "little red." The newspapers took up the application. Barton went by the name of "Little Red."
The First Constitution.
In the general provisions of its first constitution Missouri followed closely Kentucky which State had been admitted in 1792. Universal suffrage was one of the provisions of the Missouri constitution. The purpose of the framers to main- tain strictly the separation of church and state was shown in the disqualification of clergymen for offices. The legislature was prohibited from granting a charter for more than one bank. St. Louis had just passed through an uncomfortable experience resulting from the competition of two banks in the issue of paper currency and the extension of credit. Both the Bank of Missouri and the Bank of St. Louis had been compelled to suspend. The issue of slavery was not raised seriously in the constitutional convention. The members seem to have taken position unanimously against restriction of slavery. Previous to the pre- sentation of Missouri's petition for statehood in 1818 there had been some senti- ment against slavery. When the petition was delayed by Congress and the "Tall- madge" resolution sought to impose conditions on admission, Missourians quite generally resented that action. The framers inserted in the constitution a declara- tion that the legislature should have no power to emancipate slaves without the consent of the owners. The constitution further stipulated that the legislature
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MISSOURI, THE CENTER STATE
might provide for emancipation with the consent of the owners, but if this was done it became the duty of the State to insure humane treatment of the freed slaves. Furthermore the legislature was directed to provide by necessary legisla- tion that all free negroes and mulattoes be excluded from the State.
Half a score of sections were devoted to slavery. One of them provided for jury trial in case a slave was charged with a serious crime. Another forbade any more severe penalty for a convicted negro than for a convicted white man. A third section required the legislature "to oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity and abstain from all injuries to them extending to life and limb."
Benton afterwards held that the clause in the constitution depriving the legis- lature of any power to emancipate slaves without the consent of their owners had its origin in the purpose of the framers to keep the slavery question out of state politics. Resentment on the part of the Missourians toward Congress had considerable influence upon the framers of the constitution. When Congress refused to accept the constitution and to admit the State, the indignation increased and was general throughout the State. The St. Louis Inquirer, Benton's organ, pronounced the constitution "immortal."
Second Constitutional Convention.
In 1844 many Missourians thought the State had outlived the work of Bar- ton, Bates and their associates. Under the old, each county was entitled to one member in the lower house. One of the chief arguments for a new instrument was that the populous counties ought to have more than one representative. The legislature provided for the election of delegates by districts. The convention sat in 1845. Among the framers were Missourians who had held or were to hold high official station. The roll included James H. Green, Thomas L. Anderson, Hancock Jackson, Uriel Wright, Claiborne F. Jackson and Trusten Polk. Two of the younger members, James O. Broadhead and B. F. Massey, were to participate in the making of another constitution just thirty years later. Robert W. Wells was president. When the proposed constitution was submitted in 1846 it was beaten by 9,000 adverse majority. The total vote polled was only 45,000. Walter Williams said this was "an excellent instrument. The rejection was largely the result of the objection of William Campbell and his newspaper, the New Era, of St. Louis. Mr. Campbell was opposed to the section of the constitution which changed the plan of the choice of supreme judges from appointment by the governor to election by the people. Though they rejected the new constitution, the people at the next election ratified an amendment to the old constitution making the supreme judges elective."
Some Missourians began to talk "national capital removal" as early as 1845. The suggestion to cede the site of St. Louis to the United States with that object in view led to what the newspapers called "a ridiculous blunder." St. Louis sent delegates to the constitutional convention. A proposition was made to offer certain described territory in Missouri "for the purpose of locating and keeping thereon the seat of government of the United States." In the debate it was given out that the proposed cession included St. Louis and considerable contiguous territory. But, when the language was examined carefully it appeared that St. Louis, as then bounded, was not included in the territory to be ceded. The northern boundary
THE BOUGENOU HOME Where first marriage in St. Louis was celebrated
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THREE ORGANIC ACTS
of the proposed cession was about where Arsenal street is now. The framers had, as a matter of geographical definition, offered the present workhouse site, Carondelet and the ground north of Jefferson Barracks for a new District of Columbia. One of the St. Louis papers commenting upon the "ridiculous blunder" said :
"The nearest approach to our city is the township line which strikes the United States arsenal tract below the city. The section of country ceded takes in the ancient and renowned city of Vide Poche, otherwise denominated Empty Pocket, and reaches nearly to Jefferson Barracks. What effect this strange blunder may have upon the two towns we leave to those interested to find out, certain of one thing only, that Vide Poche and not St. Louis is to be the future seat of the national government if the terms of our constitution are to be re- garded."
Third Constitutional Convention.
The state convention which had created the provisional state government met in the summer of 1863 and passed an ordinance to provide for amendments to the state constitution emancipating slaves. Under this ordinance slavery in Missouri was to cease on the 4th day of July, 1870. Those over forty years of age were to remain subject to their late owners the rest of their lives. Those under twelve years of age were to remain subject to their owners until they arrived at the age of twenty-three. Those of all other ages were to be emancipated on the 4th day of July, 1870. After the 4th of July, 1870, no Missouri slave could be sold to a non-resident or removed from the State. The proposed ordinance was attacked in mass meetings held in different parts of the State. On the 13th of February, 1864, the legislature, in response to petitions, passed an act authorizing the assembling of a convention on January 6, 1865, to deal with the emancipation question. The act provided for the election of delegates to the convention from each congressional district. These delegates were "to consider, first, such amend- ments to the constitution of the State as may be by them deemed necessary for the emancipation of the slaves ; second, such amendments to the constitution of the State as may be by them deemed necessary to preserve in purity the elective franchise to loyal citizens ; and such other amendments as may be by them deemed essential to the promotion of the public good."
At the November election the delegates were chosen. They were with very few exceptions new men in Missouri politics. Most of them had come to the front with the growth of the Radical party and the disfranchisement of Southern sympathizers. But of the sixty-nine delegates it was a rather curious fact that more than half had been born in slave States. Several of the most radical of the Radicals had been originally pro-slavery men. Lawyers did not predominate in this as in the Unconditional Union convention which had given Missouri the Hamilton Gamble government. There were more farmers than lawyers. Mer- chants and doctors were well represented. Ten of the delegates were of European birth. It was a young man's convention. Twenty-five were under forty. The issue on which most of these delegates were elected was immediate emancipation. Among those chosen were Chauncey I. Filley, Gustavus St. Gem, and W. F. Switzler. Vol. 1 -2
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MISSOURI, THE CENTER STATE
The convention met in Mercantile Library Hall at St. Louis on the 6th of January. Arnold Krekel, an able lawyer and a leader among the German Radicals, afterwards appointed United States district judge, was chosen president. Before the end of the first week the convention adopted the following :
"Be it ordained by the people of the State of Missouri, in convention assembled :
"That hereafter, in this State, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ; and all persons held to service or labor as slaves are hereby declared free."
There were polled on the roll call only four votes in the negative. As soon as the result was announced there was a great demonstration. The cheering spread from the crowded hall to the throng gathered on Fifth street. As soon as order was restored Rev. Dr. William G. Eliot was escorted to the platform. He de- livered this prayer of thanksgiving :
"Most merciful God, before whom we are all equal, we look up to Thee who hast declared Thyself our Father and our helper and our strong defense, to thank Thee that Thou art no respecter of persons, to thank Thee that Thou didst send Jesus Christ into the world to redeem the world from sin and that he was the friend of the poor, that he came to break the manacles of the slaves, that the oppressed might go free. We thank Thee that this day the people of this state have had grace given them to do as they would be done by. We pray that Thy blessing may rest upon the proceedings of this convention, that no evil may come to this State from the wrong position of those who do not agree with the action of today, but that we, all of us, may be united to sustain this which is the law of the land. We pray, O God! but our hearts are too full to express our thanksgiving! Thanks be to God for this day that light has now come out of darkness, that all things are now promis- ing a future of peace and quietness to our distracted state. Grant that this voice may go over the whole land until the ordinance of emancipation is made perfect throughout the States. We ask through the name of our dear Lord and Redeemer. Amen."
Encouraged by the popular approval of the emancipation act the delegates proceeded to draft not amendments to the constitution of 1820, but an entirely new constitution. They incorporated an ironclad "Oath of Loyalty." A minority in the constitutional convention led by Dr. Linton fought the test oath. They assailed it as not only a political blunder, but as unjust to thousands of Missourians who had at first sympathized with the South and who had, when hostilities came. taken sides with the North and continued loyal to the end. Charles D. Drake, a Southerner by birth, led the majority in favor of the test oath.
The convention was in session seventy-eight days. The constitution was submitted to vote on the 6th of June. The total number of votes cast was 85,878, not much more than one-half of those polled in 1860. The majority for the con- stitution was only 1,862. The ironclad provisions, intended to ostracise for all time not only Confederates but all who had sympathized with the South, were imposed by fewer than 45,000 voters.
The Drake Constitution.
Some of the provisions of the Drake constitution were highly commendable. No man who could not read and write could be a voter. The provisions for public education of all grades were strongly expressed. Not all of the sweeping, stringent suggestions made during the convention found place in the instrument as finally
WILLIAM G. PETTUS
Secretary of first Constitutional Convention of Missouri
HENRY SHAW Founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden
JOHN O'FALLON
Manager Missouri branch of United States Bank
JOHN MULLANPHY The first Missouri millionaire
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THREE ORGANIC ACTS
adopted. For example, there was at one time offered an amendment under which any citizen of the State, white or colored, male or female, would be eligible to the office of governor. This amendment was rejected only by a tie vote. Similarly it was proposed to make white or colored, male or female, eligible to legislative elec- tion, but this failed. The argument of those who supported the Drake consti- tution was that Missourians who had attempted to destroy the government either by open acts or by encouragement, sympathy and aid given to the Confederates in any form or manner had forfeited all right to participate in the affairs of state.
Not until the provisions were put in force did the people realize what had been done. No official of State, city or county, no judge of any court, no teacher of either sex, no attorney, no preacher, could perform official duty or practice the pro- fession without taking the oath. To refuse the oath and to preach, or teach, or practice law, or perform any official duty made the offender liable to $500 fine or six months in jail or both. To take the oath and then have it proven that in some of the ways set forth in the third section there had been false swearing meant perjury with a penitentiary term of not less than two years. The protest against this "persecution" went up from all parts of the State. Ministers of the Gospel took the ground that the test oath was a blow at religious liberty. And it was. Arrests and indictments followed many refusals to abide by the oath requirements. The "Oath of Loyalty" as the constitution titled it was this:
"I, A. B., do solemnly swear, that I am well acquainted with the terms of the third section of the second article of the constitution of the State of Missouri, adopted in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-five, and have carefully considered the same, that I have never, directly or indirectly, done any of the acts in said section specified; that I have always been truly and loyally on the side of the United States against all enemies thereof, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United States, and will support the constitution and laws thereof, as the supreme law of the land, any law or ordinance of any State to the contrary notwithstanding; that I will, to the best of my ability, protect and defend the Union of the United States, and not allow the same to be broken up and dissolved, or the government thereof to be destroyed or overthrown, under any circumstances, if in my power to prevent it; that I will support the constitution of the State of Missouri; and that I make this oath without any mental reservation or evasion. and hold it to be binding on me."
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