-
About the Library
Staff
Board of Trustees
Tax Information
Newsletters
Directions
Hours
Tours
Contact Us
Mercantile Blog Archive
-
Membership and Giving
Help The Library
Memberships
Support the Library
Amazon Wish List
Gift Shop
-
Research
Research Assistance
Research Guides
Other Resources
-
Collections
Mercantile Library Special Collections
Pott Library Special Collections
Barriger Library Special Collections
Digital Collections
-
Events and Exhibitions
Online Exhibits
Missouri's Statehood in Newspapers
Autumn Fine Print Dealers' Showcase
-
Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library
History
Research
Pott Collections
Contact Us
-
John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library
Missouri's Railroads: A Bicentennial Overview
History
Research
Featured Collections
Barriger Collections
Board of Trustees
Contact Us
Transcontinental
-
St. Louis Mercantile Library Art Museum
Feldacker Collection
Shopmaker Collection
Contact Us
-
Mercantile Library Videos
Coverage of the Titanic
The Lincoln Assassination
The Declaration of Independence
A Nation, A City, & Its First Library
New Americana: Personal History
Frederick Oakes Sylvester: An American Artist in Nature
Celebrating the Women of the Mercantile: Authors, Researchers, Activists, & Beyond
2021 Presentation of the Wright & Swift Awards
Passing Trains That Have No Name: John Barriger's Railroad Scrapbooks
175 Years of Art at the St. Louis Mercantile Library
-
Anniversary Educational Series
Grades 9-12
Grades 6-8
Grades 3-5
Missouri in the News: The Birth of the State of Missouri from the Pages of the National Intelligencer
This excerpt comes from the National Intelligencer’s February 17, 1820 edition.
While many congressional arguments centered on the imbalance of power between free and slave states, some congressmen highlighted their moral opposition to Missouri’s admission as a slave state. An example can be seen in this excerpt of a speech by Congressman John W. Taylor of New York. He believed that Congress had “a moral and constitutional right” to prevent the spread of slavery to Missouri, which many feared could lead to slavery’s continual spread through the United States’ western territories. Congressman Taylor’s speech featured here ominously predicted that should slavery be allowed in Missouri, Congress’ inaction would torment future generations of Americans.
It is essential to note that during the Civil War, the Mercantile Library was the site on which the Emancipation Proclamation was ratified; thus resolving a forty year delay in freeing Missouri to grow without slavery.
Map of the Northern Missouri Territory in 1817 (St. Louis Mercantile Library Collection)
The Missouri Question was one of the dominant political issues of the 1819-1820 Congressional Session. The preservation of the balance of power between free and slave states led to the creation of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 under the leadership of Speaker of the House Henry Clay of Kentucky. Clay's compromise allowed for the admission of Missouri and Maine and set a boundary on the expansion of slavery in the territories of the United States.
After the compromise went into effect, the territories of Maine and Missouri each had admission bills that had to be approved by the United States Congress before they could finally be admitted as states. When Missouri's admission bill came up for consideration, a clause involving the exclusion of free African-Americans caused the bill to be stopped in Congress. Clay crafted another compromise by effectively preventing this exclusionary clause from being applied against United States Citizens. After this bill was passed and signed into law by President James Monroe, Missouri would be officially admitted to the Union on August 10, 1821.
We will update this page regularly with new issues of The National Intelligencer during the bicentennial.
Follow the debate in the issues of The National Intelligencer:
The First Missouri Compromise Bill:
If you want to read ahead and view the entire digitized collection of The National Intelligencer, go here.