MISSOURI. 



655 



To this a substitute was offered requesting Gov. which resulted in the assembling o. a conven 



B 



I 



Gamble to withdraw his resignation and con- 

 tinue to discharge the duties of governor. 

 The substitute was accepted by a vote of yeas 

 47, nays 34, and then adopted by a vote of yeas 

 51, nays 29. 



The ordinance of emancipation was subse- 

 quently passed in the form in which it was re- 

 ported, and the convention adjourned on July 

 1st. Thus was adopted an ordinance of eman- 

 cipation by one of the State Conventions orig- 



lally called for the purpose of passing an or- 

 linance of secession from the Union. 

 The governor in his message to the Legisla- 



ire early in January, 1864, thus refers to this 

 ordinance of emancipation : 



After a full discussion of the subject of Emancipa- 

 tion, an ordinance was adopted which will relieve the 

 State from chattel slavery on the fourth day of Ju- 



Y, 1870, with such provisions for service to be rendered 

 by the emancipated slaves, as justice and humanity 

 appeared to the convention to require. Although the 

 ordinance, as adopted by the convention, is not, in all 

 its different provisions, such as I myself approved, 

 and probably not such as a majority of the Conven- 

 tion would have approved, yet as the subject is one 

 hich has always produced a diversity of opinion in 

 >gard to details among those who are the most earn- 

 est friends of Emancipation, the ordinance, as passed, 

 was accepted by a majority of the friends of Emanci- 



ation as the best measure that could be agreed upon. 

 It cannot be expected of me that I shall enter into a 



indication of the ordinance in all its details, as I vot- 

 ed in the Convention against some of its provisions ; 

 still, I accepted it as a measure that will, in a brief pe- 

 riod, accomplish the great object to be obtained in 

 making Missouri a free State. 



I am aware that there are many who seize upon 

 particular provisions of the ordinance as a ground 

 of objection to the whole measure, while others 

 express apprehensions that the delay in its taking ef- 

 fect, exposes the whole measure to the danger of re- 



ieal. I am persuade_d that no intelligent body of the 

 iends of emancipation who look at the subject in all 



ts different bearings, with the eyes of justice and hu- 



nanity can ever be assembled without finding them- 

 selves differing in opinion about details, and therefore 

 it is no solid objection to a plan of emancipation that 

 some of its details satisfy some of the friends of eman- 



ipation, while they dissatisfy others. As to the sup- 



ioscd danger of a repeal of the measure adopted, I 

 *egard it as altogether imaginary. I am fully persua- 

 ded that those interested in slave property in the State, 

 "n view of the great insecurity of such property, will 



lever seek to disturb the measure as adopted, and no 

 others have any interest in doing so ; and thus I be- 

 "ieve the measure will go quietly into operation and 



"te State be relieved from all the evils of slavery. If 

 am right in this belief, the further agitation of the 

 subject of emancipation, while it may promote the or- 

 ganization of political parties and keep up a contest 

 for office, will contribute neither to the peade nor the 

 prosperity of the State. 



After the adjournment of the convention a 

 meeting was held in St. Louis by those opposed 

 o the scheme of emancipation adopted by the 

 convention, to the exemption of slave property 

 from taxation, to the postponement of the 

 State election, &c. Resolutions were adopted 

 declaring these views, and looking to the next 

 Legislature to call a new convention. An active 

 canvass for the support of these views was now 

 made by the unconditional Union men, or 

 Radical Emancipationists, as they were called, 



tion representing their views. This body met 

 at Jefferson City on Sept. 1st, and consisted of 

 delegates from four fifths of the counties of the 

 State. The following platform was reported by 

 the Committee on Resolutions, and adopted : 



First. Sustaining the Government in a vigorous prose- 

 cution of the war to complete the final suppression of 

 the rebellion. 



Second. Denouncing the military policy pursued in 

 the State, and the delegation by the General Govern- 

 ment of the military power to a provisional State or- 

 ganization, the whole tendency of which is to throw 

 back the people under the control of the pro-slavery 

 party, and by reactionary influences to paralyze the 

 Federal power in suppressing the rebellion, to prolong 

 a reign of terror throughout a large section of the 

 State, and extend aid and comfort to those who are 

 meditating hostility to the national authority in other 

 States. 



Third Endorsing the President's emancipation proc- 

 lamation and asking for its prompt execution, declar- 

 ing that they will support no one not pledged to its 

 principles ; believing that those liberated under it can- 

 not be reduced to slavery, and refusing to sustain any 

 reorganization of the country that does not embody the 

 freedom principles therein contained. 



Fourth. Referring to the French influence in Mex- 

 ico, and calling on the General Government to resist it. 



Fifth. Arraigning the Provisional Government as 

 untrue to the loyal people of the State, and giving 

 eight reasons therefor. 



Sixth. Demanding immediate emancipation in Mis- 

 souri. 



Seventh. Favoring a constitutional amendment to 

 disfranchise all who have taken up arms against the 

 Government or adhered to the enemies thereof. 



Eighth. Demanding that the Legislature call a new 

 State convention, to take into consideration the griev- 

 ances under which the State now labors, and in case 

 of their refusal nothing can stop the right of the peo- 

 ple to act in the matter. 



Resolutions were also passed requesting the 

 Union men of Illinois and Kentucky to unite 

 with the convention in an appeal to President 

 Lincoln ; also requesting Governor Gamble and 

 Lieut.-Gov. Hall to resign, and the President 

 to remove General Schofield; also denouncing 

 Quantrell's raid on Lawrence, and expressing 

 the warmest sympathies with the survivors of 

 the massacre ; inviting all lovers of " free labor, 

 free soil, and free speech " to seek homes in 

 Missouri, and guaranteeing them protection; 

 thanking the gallant soldiers of Missouri; 

 thanking the President for arming negroes to 

 kill rebels ; warning the members of the Legis- 

 lature against disregarding the will of the 

 people; and requesting the radical members 

 of the Legislature to vote for B. Gratz Brown 

 and Benjamin Loan for United States Senators; 

 also instructing the State executive committee 

 of the emancipation party to prepare a public 

 address calling upon the people to form a State 

 organization and a central organization of the 

 United States to give efficacy and power to 

 reforms in our federal relations. The follow- 

 ing resolutions were also adopted : 



Resolved, That we respectfully demand of General 

 Schofield permission to recruit negroes belonging to 

 disloyalists of this State. That as the exigencies of 

 the times indicate a change of commanders in the de> 

 partmcnt, we appoint a committee to draft a memorial, 

 which shall be signed by the members of this conven- 



