-The Jackson Resolutions
-The "Southern Address"
-Benton's Appeal
-Benton's Downfall
-The Election of 1852
-The Kansas-Nebraska Act
-The Struggle For Kansas
-The Legislative Deadlock Over the Senatorship
-The Proslavery Forces Win in Kansas
-The Kansas Free State Movement
-Violence Renewed
-The Election of 1856
-The Election of 1857
-Slavery Loses Out in Kansas
-The Dred Scott Case
-Debate Over Emancipation
The 1850s in Missouri are really a mirror for what is happening in the rest of the nation at this time. Political upheaval over slavery stretched nearly from coast to coast. The link between Kansas and Missouri at this time is very important. Many of the pro-slavery proponents thought that the establishment of Kansas as a slave state would help to maintain the survival of Missouri and many of the other southern states as slave states. This lead to the violence and chaos along the border between Missouri and Kansas. Below I've included a few political cartoons and newspaper articles. All of them are in support of Kansas as a free-state and depict pro-slavery individuals as ruffians and murderers.
Chapter 8: An Expanding Missouri, 1830-1860
-Population Explosion
-The Coming of the Immigrants
-The Early Urbanization of St. Louis
-Other Missouri Towns
-Steamboating on the Western Waters
-Overland Transportation
-The Coming of the Railroads
As the title of the chapter suggests, Missouri is growing over the thirty year period leading up to the Civil War. Missouri grew not only in population but in economic production. The large amount of immigrants from location such as Germany and Ireland boosted the state's population by over 100,000. This added a greater amount of cultural variety to the state also. The steamboat and railroad also played very important roles in the expansion and economic growth of Missouri. Although the railroad did not reach its full potential until after the war, it still played a major part in the state's growth, while the post-war period led to the rapid decline of the steamboats because the could not match how wide-spread the railroad could travel. The aspect of this time in Missouri history that I find perhaps most interesting is the steamboats on the rivers. My great-grandfather told many stories of living on Brickey's Landing in northern Ste. Genevieve County in the early 1900s where the steamboats would stop several times a week to drop off mail or supplies, or to get supplies. The interesting thing about Brickey's Landing is that the railroad also went through there and was an important part of life there too. My great-grandfather told many stories of cutting the ties for the railroad with his brother and dragging them back down from the river hills with their mules. Perhaps my favorite story of his about living on the river is that one morning very early around 1 or 2 a.m. the steamboat Cairo stopped to make a delivery of supplies. My great-grandfather and several other young men had to row out and pick up the supplies. One of the men was so agitated by being awakened from sleep that he said "That darn ship, I hope she sinks!" Well the next day the Cairo caught a snag south of Cape Girardeau and sank. I have a picture of the salvaged paddlewheel of the Cairo below. I also have some pictures of various steamboats docked in Cairo or moving along the river. The top picture is of Brickey's Landing, my great-grandfather's home is on the far right.
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