CHAPTER II

POLITICAL ANNALS 1870-1920

The Two Phases of the Period. The Democratic party, which practically came into control of the State with the election of Brown in 1870, continued in power until 1904. Only once did that party fail to carry the State, and this was at the election of 1894, when the only officers elected were a judge of the supreme court and the superintendent of public schools. From 1904 to 1920 Missouri was a doubtful State politically. There developed a large independent vote which no party can control. The Liberal-Democratic majority in 1870 was more than 40,000. This majority gradually decreased until it was wiped out at the election of 1904, when the Republicans elected their entire ticket except the candidate for governor.

Since 1904 state officials have usually been elected by a plurality instead of a majority.

Reconstruction Problems 1870-1876. B. Gratz Brown was elected governor in 1870 by Liberal-Republican and Democratic voters upon the issues of reconstruction. Six constitutional amendments had been adopted at the election of 1870. These removed the restrictions on the suffrage and also the other clauses which discriminated against those who had sympathized with the South. Governor Brown in his message to the legislature recommended changing the registration laws so they would conform to the amendments which abolished the test oaths. He also recommended

better railroad regulation, and the immediate calling of a constitutional convention. The legislature amended the registration laws, but refused to submit to the people the proposal for a new constitution.

The success of the Liberal Republican-Democratic combination in Missouri attracted the attention of the entire nation. A convention of Liberal-Republicans was held January 24, 1872 at Jefferson City. The resolutions invited all Republicans who favored a general amnesty to meet in national convention at Cincinnati the first Wednesday in May. This was the origin of the movement which brought into existence the National Liberal-Republican party.

Governor Woodson. The Liberal Republicans and the Democrats called their state conventions for the same day, August 21, at Jefferson City. The two conventions through committees agreed upon a division of the State offices, and nominated a fusion ticket. The Democrats got the better of the bargain. Silas Woodson,1 a Democrat who had taken no part in the war, was nominated for governor. The entire ticket was elected by a majority of nearly 40,000. Governor Woodson's administration was conservative. He was concerned with the problems of paying off or refunding the state debt.

1 Silas Woodson was born in Kentucky in 1817. He was admitted to the bar when twenty-one, was elected circuit attorney, and came into prominence by winning a famous case when pitted against the best legal talent of the State. In Kentucky, Woodson was a Clay Whig, but he became a Democrat when he came to Missouri in 1854. He took no active part in the war, but was active in reorganizing the Democratic party after the war. The fact that he had no war record made him an excellent compromise candidate for governor. After his term as governor he was circuit judge for years. He died in 1896.

The election of United States senator attracted considerable attention. General Frank P. Blair had been elected two years before to serve during the unexpired term of Chas. D. Drake, who had resigned. Blair had been very active in the reorganization of the Democratic party after the war, and had risked his life many times in his work for the party. It would seem that the party should have re-elected him to the Senate. But Blair was too positive for the times. The party selected Boggy, a man who had taken no part in the

war.

The Liberal-Republican party passed out of existence after the election of 1872. Some of its members returned to the Republican party, but the great majority of them joined the Democratic party.

The Democratic Party in 1874. The Democratic party was now composed of a number of groups of people who differed widely in their past political views. First there were Union Democrats, who had been loyal through the war. These were composed of two distinct groups, those who had been Whigs and those who had before the war been BentonDemocrats. Second, was the ex-Confederates and those who sympathized with them during the war. These men all became Democrats as soon as they were allowed to vote. This group was a large and influential group and frequently controlled the party councils.

Finally, there were those who having been Republicans during the war, had left the party in 1870 as Liberal Republicans, and had finally joined the Democratic party in 1874. This later group was not influential in the party council. With all these various groups in the party it was impossible to nominate a positive man who had stood as a leader in any of these groups.

Governor Hardin. In 1874 the ex-Confederate group made a determined effort to nominate one of their number, F. M. Cockrell, who had been a brigadier general in the Confederate army, but failed. Charles H. Hardin2 was nominated by one-sixth of a vote in the convention and was elected by a majority of more than 37,000. Governor Hardin made every effort possible to heal the factional troubles which the State had inherited from the Civil War.

The country was just beginning to recover from the effects of the panic of 1873 when the State suffered from an invasion of grasshoppers from the west. They came first in the late summer of 1874. But the next spring they hatched out in great numbers and destroyed every particle of green vegetation they could reach. In a number of the western counties of the State the crops were entirely destroyed.3

It was during Governor Hardin's administration that the present constitution, which is discussed in a subsequent chapter, was adopted.

2 Charles H. Hardin was born in Kentucky in 1820. His father moved to Columbia, Missouri where the boy grew to manhood. His mother was Hannah Jewell, a sister of Dr. William Jewell, the founder of William Jewell College. He began the practice of law at Fulton in 1843. Later he entered politics as a Whig. He served in the State legislature as a representative from Calloway County. In 1860 he was in the State senate. During the Civil War he retired to his farm and took no part in the conflict. After the war he joined the Democratic party as many of the old Whigs did.

Hardin was nominated for governor in 1874 by the small majority of one-sixth of a vote. After his term as governor he retired to private life. He was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church, and gave $75,000 for founding a Girls' Baptist College at Mexico. The school was called Hardin College in honor of the donor. He died in 1892.

3 A notable incident connected with the grasshopper year was a grasshopper banquet held at the Warrensburg Normal School. Some one suggested that as the grasshoppers had eaten every thing in the way

The Rule of the Civil War Veterans, 1876-1888. By the close of Hardin's administration in 1876 the problems of reconstruction had been solved in both state and nation. The ex-Union and ex-Confederate soldiers had always respected each other; now they could find common grounds for agreement upon the new issues which arose. With these two groups in the Democratic party working in harmony, the day of the moderate man who had been inactive in the Civil War was passed. For the next decade or more the ex-soldier received the preference in politics. Both exConfederate and ex-Union soldiers were elected to the highest offices within the gift of the people. Senator F. M. Cockrell, Senator George G. Vest and Governor John S. Marmaduke are notable examples of the former, and Governor John S. Phelps and Governor Thomas T. Crittenden represent the latter.

4

The first of the soldier group to be elected was Francis M. Cockrell, who was elected to the senate to succeed Carl Schurz in 1875. Cockrell had been the closest competitor of Hardin for the nomination for governor in 1874. His hearty support of Hardin in the campaign made him the choice of the Democratic caucus for senator. The next Civil War veteran to receive high public office was an ex-Union soldier, General John S. Phelps. The Democrats in 1876 nominated of vegetation there was but one thing to do and that was to eat the grasshoppers. The banquet was arranged to determine whether or not the grasshopper was edible. The grasshoppers were collected in sacks.` Only the hams were used. As an experiment the results were evidently negative as there is no record of any further use of the grasshopper for food.

4 Francis M. Cockrell was born in Johnson County, Missouri, October I, 1834. He was reared on a farm, attended the common schools, and was graduated from Chapel Hill College in 1853. He was admitted to the bar in 1855 and began the practice of law in Warrensburg.