Johnson County, Missouri - Chapter 14, 1881

Chapter 14

Election of Thomas H. Benton's Successor - Various Sessions of the Legislature - Organi¬ zation of Kansas and Nebraska - Resume of Progress.

The close of the preceding chapter detailed the appeal of Benton to the people on the subject of the Jackson resolutions. There were two fac¬ tions among the democrats, Benton and anti-Benton, according as they opposed or favored the "resolutions." During the campaign of 1850, and at the time Benton made his wonderful canvass, he was also electioneer¬ ing for a return to the United States senate. While his speeches were, masterly and exhaustive, they were laden with the bitterest sarcasm and irony, and filled with personal invective. In view of the fact that the sixteenth general assembly would elect Mr. Benton's successor to the senate, great importance attached to the election of its members. Three tickets were in the field, the whig, Benton, and anti-Benton. The rupture in the democratic ranks gave many victories to the whigs who appeared at the session convening on December 30, 1850, with a larger force than ever before. Varying success attended the wings of the democratic party. Austin W. King was governor; Thomas L. Price, (democrat) was pres¬ ident of the senate; Nathaniel W. Watkins (whig) was speaker of the house.

The joint convention, to elect a United States senator, met on January 10, 1851. Terrible strifes waged between the two wings of democracy. Angry debates and stormy caucuses consumed the time until the 30th, and no choice was made. Steadfastly the whigs adhered to their candidate, knowing that the chasm between the democrats could never be bridged over. Desperation marked the two factions, dubbed " Hards " and " Softs." Finally, on the fortieth ballot, worn out by the fury of the con¬ flict, each side gave way, and the whigs were triumphant, and Henry S. Geyer, of St. Louis, was elected. The vote stood, Geyer 80, Benton 55, Stringfellow 18, scattering four.

Benton's service was ended. His career was one of the most remarka¬ ble ever recorded in the annals of our country. For thirty years had he guided with vigorous intellect and eloquent speech the destinies of Mis¬ souri and the west. His name and fame had become national, and while not without his faults, his love for the principles in which he believed, won for him the grateful reverence of thousands of hearts. History now cher¬ ishes his memory for his great independence, and his matchless devotion ' to that which he believed to be right.

On August 30, 1852, a special session of the seventeenth general assembly was called by a proclamation of Gov. King. The object of this call session was to pass upon matters concerning internal improve¬ ments in the state. It was in its purpose a railroad convention. Resolu¬ tions were passed accepting grants of land by congress to aidin the con¬ struction of various railroads, the most important being the Hannibal & St. Joseph. The legislature did not adjourn until December 25.

The cause of this protracted session was not the transaction of legiti¬ mate business. The organization of the house consumed most of the time. The slavery question was revived and discussed long and ably by the most talented men of the state. The fight over the speakership was as if the life or death of faction or party depended upon it. A compromise, by which a Benton democrat became speaker for the special session only, was effected after extended wrangling.

Of the work accomplished at the regular session of the seventeenth gen¬ eral assembly, very little can be said. The assembly met on Monday, December 27, 1852, and a final adjournment was had on February 24. There was another intense struggle over the speakership. Among the leaders are names afterward to be distinguished by bearing high honors. The friends of Benton were Frank P. Blair, B. Gratz Brown, John D. Stevenson. The anti-Benton leaders, C. F. Jackson, R. M. Stewart, J. F. Benjamin, strenuously upheld the famous "resolutions," while the whig forces were led by such men as James O. Broadhead, Samuel H. Woodson, and Charles H. Hardin. Reuben Shelby, the speaker of the extra session, was re-elected. The newly elected governor and lieutenant-governor, Sterling Price and Wilston Brown, were inaugurated. Storms of angry discussion swept constantly across the proceedings.

The session of the eighteenth general assembly, which met December 25, 1854, passed with little to record above the usual routine of business. William Newland, a whig, was elected speaker: David R. Atchison's term of office expired, and the duty of electing his successor devolved upon this assembly. The candidates were: D. R. Atchison, Thomas H. Benton, A. W. Doniphan. x\tchison was anti-Benton in politics, and Doniphan was a whig. Atchison and Doniphan usually ran about even, while Benton fell about ten votes behind. After twenty-five ballots, Wil¬ liam Scott, of the supreme court, and Sterling Price, then governor, were successively substituted for Atchison, but with no avail. So firm were the parties, that after a recess, from March 5 until the ensuing November } the status of each was substantially the same, and the assembly adjourned sine die , December 13, without making a choice. The same furor of

Historical Sketch Of Missouri

The winters of 1854-5-6 were rile "with wild political turmoil. The national congress was almost chaotic. The people of all the states were vehemently applauding or bitterly denouncing, as victory came to or went from their champion leaders. The cause of all the excitement was the admission of Kansas and Nebraska.

It is not our purpose here to narrate the various actions and attempts at legislation, pro and con, hinging upon the question of slavery, which occu¬ pied congress during the years mentioned. History itself, at this time, can only fittingly give results. The great current of underfeeling cannot now be rightly appreciated. Since the world began, good men have honestly held opposite opinions, and have been willing, times without number, to sacrifice property and life in their maintenance. We, of to-day, can only approximate the earnestness felt in this great question. Even those who passed through it all, can now only look back with wondering eyes- Peace can scarcely comprehend war.

Missouri, from its position, beheld in the settlement of the plan of organization of Kansas and Nebraska along her western border, some¬ thing of vital moment to her interests. In 1854 a bill passed congress after an animated debate of some three weeks' duration, which declared the " compromise " of 1820 "superseded " by the legislation of 1850, and made inoperative thereby, explained, however, by the following amend¬ ment: "It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any territory or state, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitution of the United States."

The effect of this change upon the peace and dignity of Missouri is sad in the extreme. So high ran the riot of opinion along her western boundary that scenes of violence and even bloodshed were enacted. Within the territory of Kansas civil war itself broke out, and the birth of the state was amid the throes of a disrupted commonwealth. The sympa¬ thy of Missourians with the pro and anti-slavery parties materially strengthened the conflict.

It was during this struggle that the question of discontent among the states took shape. There was no longer any doubt as to the " bone " of contention ; and while it was -possible , viewed from to-day, to have restored harmony and still have preserved the union, yet precipitate action hurried the nation to the doom of rebellion.

It is right and proper here to notice the prominent part which James S. Green played in the debates in congress. Mr. Green was elected in 1857 to succeed Thomas H. Benton. He became the antagonist of Mr. Doug¬ las, and one of the most noted of the pro-slavery leaders.

In 1856 the nineteenth general assembly elected Trusten Polk, then governor of the state, to succeed Geyer in the United States senate. James S. Green was also re-elected. Until the special election for gover¬ nor, Hancock Jackson, lieutenant-governor, filled the chair. In 1857 R. M. Stewart, of Buchanan, was elected over James S. Rollins, of Boone, by 334 majority.

We have now brought our sketch to the eve of the mighty struggle of the states, the terrible war of the rebellion. Forty years have elapsed the admission of Missouri into the union, during which time her population has vastly increased, civilization has widened to the bounda¬ ries, manufactures have sprung up in multiplied places, railroads exist, agricultural products are abundant, and the wealth of the state heralds her name abroad. We have shown the progress of the settlement of the wonderful valley - the onward march of the European, bearing in his hand the torch of liberty and law. We have shown the retreat of the red man, and the tenacity with which he held to his special huntinggrounds, his treachery and ultimate ruin . In government, the gradual growth of order has been depicted. Colonization has been developed according to natural laws. The appearance of steam has been heralded. The complimentary visits of those whose words of praise became oracles of future good, have been recorded. The desolation of fevers and wars has been painted. The work of the fire demon has been noticed. The desperate encounter with Mormonism has been seen. The white banner of education has been hailed with delight. The fierce heart-throbbings of patriotism, the sharp clashings of mind over opinion, the battle of words and the war of ideas, have all been photographed. The importance of the institution of slavery has been faithfully enunciated.

And now, with forty years of history as varied almost as that of the nation itself, there hangs above Missouri, as over the nation, the black gloom of fratricidal war.

It will not here be out of place, before we enumerate the various statis tics of Missouri in 1860, to glance for a moment at the republic itself.

The United States were colonized a century later than Spanish America; but their brilliant and rapid progress shows, in a striking light, how much more the prosperity of nations depends on moral, than on physical advantages. I he North Americans had no gold mines, and a territory of only indifferent fertility, (true of New England,) covered with impenetrable woods; but they brought with them intelligence, industry, a love of freedom, habits of order, and a pure and severe morality; armed with these gifts of the soul, they have converted the wilderness into a land teeming with life, and smiling with plenty; and they have built up a social system, so pre-eminently calculated to promote the happiness and moral improvement of mankind, that it has truly become the envy of nations. The characteristic facts in their condition are the non-existence of titles, of priv¬ ileged classes, of corporations in our sense of the term, of a landed aristocracy* of mendicity except to a very limited extent, and of an endowed church. The cheapness and efficiency of the government, the universality of education, the omnipresence of its periodical press, the high feeling of self-respect which exists in the very humblest classes, and the boundless spirit of enterprise which per¬ vades society from top to bottom. The higher classes are less polished than in England, the middle are, perhaps, less carefully instructed; but the American people, taken collectively, are better educated, and have more intelligence and manliness of character than any other nation of the world.

This, though written later, was pre-eminently true in 1860. The follow¬ ing resume of agriculture in the United States, though not statistical, shows the extent and variety of production at the commencement of the rebel¬ lion.

Agriculture has ever been the staple pursuit of the North Americans, and agricultural products have always constituted their principal articles of export. The first exports of the early colonists A?ere the natural products oi the forest: fur, lumber, pitch and tar, pot and pearl ashes, with some cattle and provisions, constituted the chief articles of trade from the northern provinces in the early part of the eighteenth century; but rice and tobacco had even then become important items of exportation from the southern colonies. At a late period, wheat became the great staple of the middle and western states, and cotton that of the more tropical sections of country. Flax and hemp thrive, particularly in the rich soil of Kentucky and Missouri. Maize being suited to a great variety of soils and situations, is so universally cultivated, as to have received the name of corn as a distinctive appellation. Oats for horses, and rye for distillation, are the prevalent species of grain in the northern states; while in the extreme south the sugar-cane is found to flourish, and to supply almost all the demand for this article for home consumption. Grapes for wine and beats for sugar are articles of prospective culture, regarding the value of which sanguine expectations are entertained. Cotton, the great staple of the United Stares, is raised in small quantities in Virginia and Kentucky, but is chiefly produced in the country further south. Cotton was first sown in the United States in or about 1787, and was exported in small quantities in 1790. Since then its culture has become enormous. Tobacco has been the staple of Virginia and Maryland since their first settlement, and is alsp extensively grown in Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri and other states; besides the quantities required for domestic use, large amounts are exported. The sugar-cane is cultivated with success in Louisiana, Florida and Texas. Rice was first cultivated in South Carolina in 1694, since which time its culture has been so successful, that, in addition to supplying the home consump¬ tion, it affords an annual surplus for the purposes of commerce. Indigo was formerly produced in large quantities in the Carolinas and Georgia, but since the introduction of cotton, the cultivation of this plant has almost ceased.

The following is the total agricultural wealth in the states and territories in 1860 : Cash value of farms, $6*650,-872,517; value of farming imple-

There were at this time in Missouri 2,800 industrial or manufacturing establishments, whose capital, invested in real and personal estate, was $20,500,000, and the value of whose annual products amounted to $43,500,000.

Not a railroad was in operation in the state until 1852. The Missouri Pacific was completed to Kansas City in 1865, and to Jefferson City in 1855.

Education at the period of which we write was gratifying. The gene¬ ral assembly of 1852-3, incorporated the following section in the school laws : " Hereafter twenty-five per centum of the state revenue shall be annually set apart and become state school moneys, and should be dis¬ tributed annually for the support of organized school townships." A new and lasting impulse was thus added to schools, and the school apportionment in 1860 reached $262,234. It is true of Missouri that " not a sentiment inimical to the cause can be found in any of her statute books for the sixty years of her existence. No political party has been in the ascendancy in all her history which has arrayed itself against free schools, and her gov¬ ernors, from 1824 to the present time, have been earnest advocates of a broad and liberal system of education. In 1839 she established a general school law and system, and in 1853 she dedicated one-fourth of her reve¬ nue annually to the maintenance of free schools. Her people have taxed themselves as freely as the people of any state, and much more liberally than the people of a majority of the states."

These are some of the wonders of forty years of progress. Of the last twenty years we shall speak in future chapters. In 1860 nation and state were alike prosperous. Substantial wealth poured along the highways, or grazed upon a thousand hills, or waited for the touch of man in the bowels of the earth. The tide was at its full, and soon the ebb began.