Jackson County, Missouri - Chapter 15: The Drake Constitution, 1920

In the year 1865, the Civil Government of the state of Missouri, was under the full control and full power of the Republican party. There was hardly a township in the State of Missouri that was not controlled by them and members of that party in full control. After the close of the war a great many Confederate soldiers were returning to their homes, and after their defeat, they of course were in direct opposition politically to the Republican party. The Republicans, fearing the result of an election, if those men were allowed to vote, conceived an idea of adopting a new constitution for the state, and insert an amendment into the consti¬ tution, a section that would forever bar them from being voters.

That constitution was adopted on the 8th day of April, 1865. It was in a manner dictated by Charles D. Drake, of St. Louis, and was nick¬ named the "Drake Constitution." It was submitted to a vote of the people for ratification on the 6th day of June following and on the first day of July, the votes having been counted, Thomas C. Fletcher, governor of the State of Missouri, issued a proclamation declaring the constitution adopted and in force on and after the 4th day of July, 1865.

Among the provisions of that constitution. Article III : "At an elec¬ tion held by the people under this constitution, or in pursuance of any law of this state, or under any ordinance or by-law of any municipal corporation, no person shall be deemed a qualified voter who has ever been in armed hostility to the United States, or to the lawful authorities thereof, or to the government of this state, or has ever given aid, comfort countenance, or support to persons engaged in any such hostility; or has ever, in any manner, adhered to the enemies, foreign or domestic, of the United States, either by contributing to them, or by unlawfully sending within their lines, money, goods, letters of information; or has ever disloyally held communication with such enemies, or has ever ad¬ vised or aided any person to enter the service of such enemies; or has ever by act or word, manifested his adherence to the cause of such enemies, or his desire for their triumph over the arms of the United States, or his sympathy with those engaged in exciting or carrying on rebellion against the United States; or has ever, excepting under over¬ powering compulsion, submitted to the authority or been in the service of the so-called "Confederate States of America" ; or has ever left this state and gone within the lines of the armies of the so-called "Confederate States of America" with the purpose of adhering to said states or armies, or has ever been a member of, or connected with, any order, society, or organization inimical to the government of the United States, or to the government of this state; or has ever been engaged in guerrilla warfare against loyal inhabitants of the United States, or in the description of marauding commonly known as "bushwhacking" ; or has even knowingly and willingly harbored, aided or countenanced any person so engaged; or has ever come into, or has left this state for the purpose of avoiding enrollment for, or draft into, the military service of the United States; or has ever, with a view to avoid enrollment in the militia of this state, or to escape the performance of duty therein, or for any other purpose, enrolled himself, or authorized himself to be enrolled by or before any officer as disloyal or as a Southern sympathizer, or in any other terms indicating his disaffection to the government of the United States in its contest with rebellion, or his sympathy with those engaged in such re¬ bellion, or having ever voted at any election by the people in this state, or in any other of the United States, or in any of their territories, or under the United States, shall thereafter have sought or received, under claim of alienage, the protection of any foreign government, through any consul or other officer thereof, in order to secure exemption from mili¬ tary duty in the militia of this state, or in the army of the United States ; nor shall any such person be capable of holding in this state any office of honor, trust or profit under its authority, or of being an officer, councilman, director, trustee or other manager of any corporation, pub¬ lic or private now existing or hereafter established by its authority, or of acting as a professor or teacher in any educational institution, or in

But the foregoing provisions in relation to acts done against the United States, shall not apply to any person not a citizen thereof, who shall have committed such acts while in the service of some foreign country at war with the United States, and who has, since such acts, been naturalized, or may hereafter be naturalized under the laws of the United States ; and the oath of loyalty hereinafter prescribed, when taken by any such person, shall be considered as taken in such sense."

By virtue of laws passed by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri under their constitution, all voters were required to register according to Section IV as follows ; '

Section IV. The General Assembly shall immediately provide by law, for a complete and uniform registration, by election districts, of the names of qualified voters in this state ; which registration shall be evienced of qualifications of all registered voters to vote at any election thereafter held ; but no person shall be excluded from voting at any eleclon, on account of not being registered until the General Assembly shall een registered at least ten days before the day of the election; and the c 0 such registration shall be not otherwise shown than by the register or an authentic copy thereof, certified to the judge of election by the gistering officers, or officer, or other constituted authority. A new registration shall be made within sixty days next preceding the tenth day prior to every biennial general election ; and after it shall have been made no person shall establish his right to vote by the fact of his name appearing on any previous register.

e disproved. And after a system of registration shall have been estab hshed, all evidence for and again.st the right of any person as a qualified voter shall be heard and passed upon by the registering officer or officers, and not by the judge of election. The registering officer or officers shall keep a register of the names or persons rejected as voters, and the same shall be certified to the judge of election; and they shall receive the ballot of any such rejected voter offering to vote, making the same, and certify¬ ing the vote thereby giving as rejected ; but no such vote shall be re¬ ceived unless the party offering it take, at the time, the oath of loyalty hereinafter prescribed.

"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, nothwithstanding ; 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."

Laws were passed authorizing the appointment of registering officers and the governor by virtue of said laws appointed registering officers throughout every county in the state. The officers appointed for Jackson County gave notice as follow:

The several registering officers appointed to make registers if the qualified voters in the several election districts of this county, will be in session for the purpose of registering all persons entitled to register as voters, in their respective districts from 8 o'clock a. m. to 6 o'clock p. m. on each and every Saturday between the twentieth day of Sept., 1866, and the fifteenth day prior to the sixth day of Nov., 1866, said Saturdays being the 22nd and 29th days of Sept., 1866 and the 6th, 13th and 20th the Civil War and were staunch Union men, but owing to the depre¬ dations of men from Kansas and other states, wearing the uniforms^ of Federal soldiers, whether legally enlisted or not, began maki'ng rLds rough the county and burning and robbing indiscriminatingly Such actions aroused the opposition of the younger men of the county and made w e er or not his name should be allowed to remain on the list of legal VO ers The session of the board was held in the circuit court room in the city of Independence, and is the same room now occupied for that pur pose During the sitting of said board, the court room was crowderto I s utmost capacity with the men who had been objected to, their friends and neighbors and sons. One of the members of said boa d wTs a Sp tain Byrnes, a man'who had lately come into the county from some of the' ar eastern states and had been appointed on the board. A few days previous, some one had gone before a magistrate and filed a complaint against Captain Byrnes for assault and battery. A capias for his arrest had been issued, upon said charge, and placed in the hands of L. W. Swearingen, who was then constable of Blue township. Mr. Swearingen had been a Federal soldier and was a high minded, honorable, brave man. A man that would do his duty under any and all circumstances. He came unto the court room while the board was in session, walked up to Captain Byrnes and whispered to him that he had a capias for his arrest and asked if he would submit to arrest and go quietly with him. Captain Byrnes turned to the sheriff and ordered him to put Swearingen out of the room, Swearingen again asked, "Will you go with me quietly?" Byrnes replied that he would not. Swearingen immediately caught him by the collar with his left hand and jerked him backward over the chair on which he was sitting. As he did so, he drew his own revolver with his right and cocked it and replied, "I'll see that you do go." At sight of the revolver in the hands of Swearingen, the crowd immediately ex¬ pected to see firing commenced. In the room were a great many of the men who had seen service in the Confederate army. They were all armed with one or two six-shooters apiece and they immediately began to draw theirs, expecting serious trouble. Those who were unarmed broke for the door and went out like rats deserting a sinking ship. In an instant there must have been from fifty to one hundred revolvers drawn and the click from the men cocking them, sounded like a box factory. As soon as Byrne could recover his feet, he stood up and said to Swearingen, "Yes, I'll go with you now," The sight of so many drawn revolvers worked a change in his feelings and he submitted quietly to arrest and went out with Swearingen.

At that time there were camped in the western part of the town a company of United States soldiers, who had been sent here for some pur¬ pose, no one knew for what, unless it was to help control the election. A young man in the street, who saw the crowd come rushing through the court house and rode furiously down the street to the camp and told the captain there was a riot at the court house and he must come immediately. The captain hurriedly collected his men and they came on the double quick to the court house as fast as they could come. The day was hot and when the men reached the court house they were all very hot and tired. By that time the court house had been entirely cleared and everything was peaceable. Men were standing around the court house yard in small groups talking and laughing with no sign of a riot. The captain was mad that he and his men should have been called to make such a run for no cause and he remarked that he was not here in the interest of politics nor . politicians, but to keep peace and as every thing seemed peaceable, he saw no reason for his interference. He took his men and immediately urne to camp. The elfect of this episode on the registration board was wonderful. The action of the men had convinced the board that they would stand for no foolishness, but the law should be complied with and men should have a fair hearing. That day's work broke the spirit of the Republican party of Jackson County. A great many of them were new comers into the county and had not been residents of the state of Mis¬ souri long enough to make them legal voters, and they thought it would

Fortunately the cooler heads prevailed and prevented any bloodshed, tor as soon as the older men began to see the younger men drawing the pistols they began to counsel them not to be hasty and not to use them unless they had to. That was the wisest of counsel, for had there been