Johnson County, Missouri - Chapter 21, 1881

Chapter 21

On the 20th day of September, 1877, occurred, in the death of Lewis V. Bogy, a deeply felt loss to Missouri. The eminent qualities of the man and statesman must be recorded in any view of the great state in which his career was passed. In the memorial address of Francis M. Cockrell, in the United States Senate, we find this account of his life:

"Lewis Vital Bogy was born on the 9th day of April, in the year 1813, in Sainte Genevieve, now in Sainte Genevieve county, Missouri, and was a descendant of the early French pioneers who came to that region of country when it belonged to France. In the early youth of Lewis V. Bogy the French language was spoken by all the inhabitants of his town, and educational advantages were very limited. Under innumerable diffi¬ culties and disadvantages, he prosecuted his education in such schools as were then accessible in that new country, manifesting that indomitable will and perseverance which yielded to no obstacles, however formidable. By frugality in his habits and economy in expenditure he managed to purchase books and study elementary law. On January 16, 1832, a young man, with limited education and means, he left his home under charge of Mr; William Shannon, an old friend of his father, to go to Kaskaskia, Illinois, to read law in the office of the late Judge Nathaniel Pope, judge of the United States district court.

" At or prior to this time he had formed the determination to continue the study of law, and to return to his native state to practice and to qualify himself to become United States senator from his native state, and to work for this position until he became sixty years old. This determi¬ nation was communicated to his mother in a letter dated January 16, 1832. He lived to attain the goal of his laudable ambition a few months before the end of his sixtieth year. In 1833 he became a student in the law school at Lexington, Ky., from which he graduated, in 1835, with the highest encomiums, having devoted himself to his studies with the most assiduous attention. On April 1, 1835, he located in St. Louis and opened a law office, and began his professional career. In 1840 he was elected a member of the general assembly of the state of Missouri. In 1849, having acquired large means by his profession, he removed to his native county, Sainte Genevieve, and was the anti-Benton democratic candidate for the legislature, and was defeated. Col. Benton, having failed to secure his re-election to the United States senate at the next congressional election in 1852, announced himself as a candidate for representative in congress

Historical Sketch Of Missouri

Lewis V. Bogy was nominated as his opponent, and although defeated acquired prestige from his contest with the great senator, and at the suc¬ ceeding election in 1854 was elected a member of the general assembly from his native county, and served with marked ability and distinction. In 1863, having returned to St. Louis, he was the democratic candidate for congress against the late Senator Francis P. Blair, Jr., and Samuel Knox, and was defeated. In 1873 he became a candidate for the United States senate, and having received the caucus nomination by a vote of 64 to 57 for the late distinguished senator, Gen. Frank P. Blair, was elected over John B. Henderson, late United States senator, by a majority of 59 votes, and became the successor of Gen. Blair in this body for the term from March 4,- 1873, to March 3, 1879. His career as a senator in this body is familiar to most of the present senators.

" Mr. Bogy, from youth to death, displayed an honorable ambition, a strong will, an unyielding perseverance, and a lion-hearted courage that never failed in the face of the strongest difficulty. In all the relations of life he was " the born gentleman," courteous, generous, liberal and warm hearted.

" As a citizen, he was patriotic and devoted to the constitution and form of government, and labored earnestly and zealously for the development of the national interests of his own great and rapidly growing city and state, and of our whole country.

" As a public official, he recognized that he was the agent and servant of the people, and was laborious, diligent, and faithful in the discharge of every trust confided to him, and of every obligation imposed upon him.

" When his eventful career drew to its inevitahle close, and the labors of his life on earth were ended by the separation of soul and body in tem¬ poral death, the people of his native state, and of the whole country, justly felt and uttered the sentiment: ' Well done, thou good and faithful serv¬ ant.' "

On January 8, 1879, the Thirtieth general assembly convened at Jeffer¬ son City. The organization resulted in the election of J. Ed. Belch, speaker of the house, and W. Y. Pemberton, secretary of the senate; Lieutenant-Gov. W. S. Brockmeyer, presiding.

Gov. John S. Phelps, in his message delivered to the assembly, January 10, thus calls attention to that portion of its work which forms the distin¬ guishing feature of the session :

The statute laws of this state of a general nature must be revised by the leg¬ islature, or a plain and important injunction of the constitution will be disre¬ garded. The 41st section of article 4, of the constitution, provides that within five years after the adoption of the constitution, " ail the statute laws of a general nature, both civil and criminal, shall be revised, digested and promulgated in within which this important labor is to be performed, will expire this year. The laws of the state have not been revised since 1865, and many important amend¬ ments and great changes have been made to the general laws, which are scat¬ tered through a dozen volumes of session acts. To collate all these and put them in symmetrical shape, in proper and appropriate language where needed, to suggest such amendments as will make the text harmonize and be congruous with the tenor of the law, and the intent of the law-makers, will require both skill and time to accomplish. And why should not time be given for this purpose? Wisdom does not consist in the enactment of many laws, nor in frequent changes of them. But few laws are needed. Let them be distinguished for their per¬ spicuity and wisdom. But if bad laws have been placed on the statute book, they ought forthwith to be repealed.

The work here indicated, was performed in a most satisfactory manner. The session continued (as of right under the law,) for one hundred and twenty days, and is known in history as the " Revising Session." The entire statutory law was overhauled, and in many instances radical and long needed changes were made.

Another important duty devolving upon this legislature was the election of a United States senator. As previously mentioned in this chapter, Gov. Phelps had appointed D. H. Armstrong to fill the unexpired term occa¬ sioned by the death of Lewis V. Bogy, until an election could be held. This being the earliest opportunity, Gen. Shields was elected as Mr. Bogy's successor. The time for the -regular election having also arrived, a joint session was convened at an early date, and George G. Vest, of Sedalia, Missouri, a prominent politician, a renowned orator and lawyer, was elected for the ensuing term of six years from March 4, 1879. When officially notified of his election, Mr. Vest was requested to appear before the assembly. From the masterly address which followed, we extract the following closing paragraph:

What the country demands to-day, is the development of its material resour¬ ces, the protection of all its citizens in every right, and that every citizen and section shall be enabled to increase the general wealth.

The country is heartily and thoroughly tired of sectional strife and sectional legislation. It demands an equitable distribution of the federal appropriations, and that instead of millions being expended upon insignificant bays and rivers, and thousands upon the father of waters, the fact should be recognized that in the valley of the Mississippi is the empire of the continent. Let this mighty river and its tributaries be the especial care of the government. No one state, no five states, can, or ought to undertake this great work. It should devolve upon the whole nation.

Extensive reports from all the various institutions of the state were sub¬ mitted to the body, and carefully considered by the same. It was an earnest, careful, conscientious, laborious assembly, and as such will go down to history.

embodied in the national platform, which were about as follows: Opposi¬ tion to centralization, no sumptuary laws, separation of church and state, common schools fostered ; home rule, honest money, consisting of gold and silver, and paper convertible into coin on demand, and a tariff for revenue only; the subordination of the military to the civil power; denouncing recent methods of " intimidating " at elections, and the great fraud perpe¬ trated in the electoral count; no more Chinese immigration except for travel, education and foreign commerce; free ships and a living chance for American commerce on the seas and on the land; friendship for labor and the laboring man; and then presented the following state democratic platform :

Second , That the nomination of Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock, and the Hon. Wm. H. English for president and vice-president, by our national convention, is a matter of earnest congratulation, not alone to democrats, but to all patriots, irrespective of party ; that it means the strict and constitutional subordination of the military to the civil power, and that through the national triumph of the democratic power in November, of which that nomination is a sure presage, sec¬ tional asperities will disappear, and the era of good feeling again will return throughout our common country.

Third , That we congratulate the citizens of the state that the administration of the state government by the democracy, during the last decade, has increased her population, national wealth and means of social happiness; that our institu¬ tions of learning are taking rank among the best in the union; and we cordially invite the industrious immigrant to our midst.

Fourth , That the democratic party will ever encourage and maintain the common schools and institutions of learning established by our state, believing that a general diffusion of knowledge promotes the happiness and protects the rights of the people.

Fifth , That it is one of the objects of good government to so administer public affairs, as to afford the largest measure of protection to the greatest number with the least possible uncertainty and burden. Therefore, we recommend the enactment of the fairest and plainest laws consistent with this end; their rigid enforcement and exact observance, and the strictest practice of economy in every depatment of our state government consistent with the growth, development and necessities of the state, together with the most exacting accountability on the part of those entrusted with the custody and disbursement of the public revenue.

Seventh , That this convention, speaking for the people of Missouri, bears -cheerful testimony to the eminent public services of John S. Phelps, chief magis¬ trate of this state; that by his matured statesmanship, wise and efficient adminis¬ tration of our laws, full protection to life, liberty and property has been guar¬ anteed to every citizen of our state.

The republican party preferred no platform for a state canvass, work¬ ing only under the national resolutions. These, after claiming that the past progress of the country during a period of twenty years, was due alone to a wise republican administration, affirmed that " the constitution of the United States is the supreme law and not a mere contract. Out of confederated states it made a sovereign nation. Some powers are denied to the nation, while others are denied to the states, but the boundary between the powers delegated, and those reserved is to be determined by the national and not the state tribunal.

" The work of popular education is one left to the care of the several states, but it is the duty of the national government to aid that work to the extent of its constitutional ability. The intelligence of the nation is but the aggregate of the intelligence in the several states, and the destiny of the nation must be guided, not by the genius of any one state, but by the average genius of all.

"The constitution wisely forbids congress to make any law respecting the establishment of religion, but it is idle to hope that the nation can be protected against the influence of secret sectarianism, while each state is exposed to its domination. We therefore, recommend that the constitu¬ tion be so amended as to lay the same prohibition upon the legislature of each state, and to forbid the appropriation of public funds to the support of sectarian schools.

"We reaffirm the belief avowed in 1876, that the duties levied for the purpose of revenue, should so discriminate as to favor American labor; that no further grants of the public domain should be made to any rail¬ way or other corporation; that slavery having perished in the states its twin barbarity, polygamy, must die in the territories; that everywhere the protection accorded to a citizen of American birth must be secured to citizens by American adoption. That we deem it the duty of congress to develop and improve our seacoast and harbors, but insist that further sub¬ sidies to private persons or corporations must cease; that the obligations of the republic to the men who preserved its integrity in the day of battle are undiminished by the lapse of fifteen years since their final victory.

" Since the authority to regulate immigration and intercourse between the United States and foreign nations, rests with the congress of the United States and the treaty making power, the republican party, regarding the unrestricted immigration of Chinese, as a matter of grave concernment, under the exercise of both these powers, would limit and restrict that immigration by the enactment of such just, humane and rea¬ sonable laws and treaties as will produce that result.

"We charge upon the democratic party the habitual sacrifice of patriot¬ ism and justice to a supreme and insatiable lust for office and patronage; that to obtain possession of the national government and control of the place, they have obstructed all efforts to promote the purity and to con¬ serve the freedom of the suffrage, and have devised fraudulent ballots, and invented fraudulent certification of returns; have labored to unseat lawfully elected members of congress to secure, at all hazards, the vote of a majority of states in the house of representatives; have endeavored to occupy by force and fraud, the places of trust given to others by the people of Maine, rescued by the courage and action of Maine's patriotic sons; have, by methods vicious in principle and tyrannical in practice, attached partisan legislation to appropriation bills, upon whose passage the very movement of the government depended ; have crushed the rights of the individual; have advocated the principles and sought the favor of the rebellion against the nation, and have endeavored to obliterate the sacred memories and to overcome its inestimably valuable results of nation¬ ality, personal freedom and individual equality." * * * .

In many counties in the state a coalition between the republicans and greenbackers succeeded in electing a candidate belonging to one or the other of the parties, and by this means defeating a regular democratic nominee. Several congressmen were elected in the same way in districts having hitherto fair democratic majorities.

Without going into the features of the canvass, the following table from the Official Directory of Missouri, will serve to show the various nominees for state officers in each party and the result of the election: