MISSOURI 



3862 



MISSOURI 



Government and History 



Government. The constitution under which 

 the state is now governed is its third, and was 

 adopted in 1875. Amendments may be pro- 

 posed by a majority vote, in each house of the 

 legislature, and are then submitted to the popu- 

 lar vote at the next general election. 



Executive Department. The governor, lieu- 

 tenant-governor, secretary of state, treasurer, 

 state auditor, attorney-general and superintend- 

 ent of public instruction, all elected for terms 

 of four years, are the executive officers of the 

 state. 



Legislative Department. The law-making 

 body, or general assembly, is composed of a 

 senate of thirty-four members, elected for three 

 years, and a house of representatives of 142 

 members, chosen every two years and appor- 

 tioned according to the population of counties. 

 Missouri abolished the death penalty in 1917. 



Judiciary. The judicial department consists 

 of a supreme court, a court of appeals, circuit 

 and inferior courts. All of the judges are 

 elected by the people. 



In 1913 juvenile courts were extended to all 

 counties. In this same year the initiative and 

 referendum were established; a law was also 

 enacted providing for the nonpartisanship of 

 judges. Municipal home rule has been granted 

 to cities having a population of over 100,000, 

 and the commission form of government may 

 also be adopted in cities and towns. Missouri 

 has enacted particularly harsh laws aiming at 

 the control of corporations. The liquor traffic 

 is controlled by local option laws. 



Exploration and Settlement. Before the com- 

 ing of the white man, . Missouri was occupied 

 by the Shawnee, Osage, Missouri and Mandan 

 Indians. Although DeSoto explored the Mis- 

 souri in 1541, and Marquette and LaSalle 

 passed its banks on the Mississippi in 1673, the 

 territory remained in the hands of the Indians 

 until 1682, when La Salle took possession of it 

 as a part of the French territory of Louisiana. 

 The French explored the interior and made 

 the first settlements at Sainte Genevieve and 

 New Bourbon. The site of Saint Louis was 

 chosen by Pierre Laclede Liguest in 1763, and in 

 the next year Auguste Chouteau began the 

 building of the village. For many years the 

 settlements were confined to the neighborhood 

 of the river. The ownership of all of the terri- 

 tory west of the Mississippi was transferred to 

 Spain in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, but in 

 1800 it was ceded back to France. 



The territory of Louisiana, of which Missouri 

 was a part, was purchased from France by the 

 United States in 1803. The northern section of 

 this region, called Upper Louisiana, was occu- 

 pied by the government in 1804, and eight years 

 later was organized as the Territory of Mis- 

 souri. 



As a United States Territory. At the time of 

 its organization as a territory, Missouri had a 

 population of over 20,000, and the agricultural 

 and mining industries were already supplanting 

 the fur trade. Being on the southern boundary 

 of the Northern states and settled by many 

 Southerners, Missouri was a point of bitter con- 

 tention in the slavery question. When, in 

 1818, the territory asked admission into the 

 Union, the nation-wide controversy arose which 

 was not settled until 1820, when Henry Clay 

 offered the famous bill known as the Missouri 

 Compromise. Upon its terms Missouri was ad- 

 mitted as a slave state on August 10, 1821. The 

 capital of the new state was at Saint Charles, 

 but six years later it was moved to Jefferson 

 City, which is more centrally located. 



Statehood. The first census of the state, 

 taken in 1821, showed the population to be 

 70,647, of which number 11,254 were slaves. 

 Missouri was again involved in slavery difficul- 

 ties at the time of the settlement of Kansas. 



In 1861, although Governor Jackson and 

 many in the legislature favored secession, the 

 majority in the state convention were opposed 

 to the Confederacy. The people were about 

 equally divided in sentiment, and often mem- 

 bers of the same family joined opposing forces. 

 The governor, who had fled from the capital, 

 summoned troops for the Confederacy and they 

 assembled in large numbers in the southwestern 

 part of the state. In a battle near Springfield 

 they defeated the Union troops, and as a re- 

 sult General Fremont, commander of the West, 

 declared martial law throughout the state. In 

 1862 the Confederates under General Price held 

 half of the state, but were later driven into 

 'Arkansas by General Curtis. Price, who re- 

 turned to the state in 1864, was finally defeated, 

 after which there was little fighting of impor- 

 tance in Missouri. 



In 1865 a new constitution was adopted, and 

 four years later the Fifteenth Amendment to 

 the United States Constitution was accepted. 

 Since 1875 the state has enjoyed wonderful 

 prosperity, and it is now among the leading 

 states in the Union in population, trade, indus- 



