History of slavery in Missouri facts for kids
The history of slavery in Missouri is an important part of the state's past. It began long before Missouri became a state, predating statehood entirely. In the early 1700s, European settlers brought large-scale slavery into the area. In 1720, a French merchant named Philippe François Renault forced about 500 workers from Saint-Domingue to the region. He made them travel up the Mississippi River to work in lead mines. These mines were located in what is now southeastern Missouri and southern Illinois. This event brought the first large group of enslaved Africans to the middle valley. Before this, slavery in Missouri under French colonial rule had existed on a smaller scale compared to other French colonies. By the time the American Civil War started, about 100,000 enslaved people lived in Missouri.
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How slavery grew in early Missouri
Until 1812, people called the land that became Missouri by the name Upper Louisiana. At first, French settlers built small farming towns. Later, three major historical events changed the region and caused slavery to grow much faster. First, France handed control over to Spain in the 1760s. Next came the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. Finally, the United States made the famous Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Between the 1760s and the 1790s, many French settlers moved across the river from Illinois. Illinois had banned slavery, so these settlers went to Missouri to keep enslaved workers. During the 1790s, settlers from the United States began arriving as well. The Spanish government offered large parcels of free land to attract newcomers. After the United States bought the territory in 1803, even more settlers moved in.
When the purchase happened in 1803, around 3,000 enslaved people lived in the area. Most lived near early towns like St. Louis and Ste. Genevieve. About one-tenth of them were of Native American descent. By 1820, about 12,000 enslaved African Americans lived in Missouri, making up twenty percent of the population. By 1860, the total reached nearly 115,000 people.
Work and daily life on the frontier
Between the 1770s and 1810s, enslavers forced people to do many hard jobs. Enslaved workers farmed fields, mined lead ore, and helped with the fur trade. St. Louis was the bustling center of this fur business along the river. In Ste. Genevieve, farming was the main focus to feed towns down the river.
After 1815, thousands of settlers rushed into central Missouri along the river. This fertile region was known as the Boon's Lick area. Settlers forced about 5,000 enslaved people to travel there to clear land. They grew crops like tobacco, hemp, and grain, and raised livestock. Cotton was only grown in the far south near Arkansas because of the cold climate. Along the busy rivers, enslaved men worked as dock loaders, cabin helpers, and hands on ferry boats.
New settlers and the Missouri crisis
Many white settlers arrived from southern states like North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. Their old farms had worn out, so they wanted fresh soil. When Missouri asked to become a state in 1819, a big fight started in Congress. Representative James Tallmadge wanted Missouri to gradually end slavery before joining the Union. Leaders from southern states strongly disagreed with this idea. This huge national debate became known as the Missouri Crisis. It led to the famous Missouri Compromise of 1820, which allowed Missouri to enter as a slave state.
Unfair laws and the struggle for rights
Early rulers created harsh rules known as a slave code to control enslaved people. Spanish leaders wrote the first set of rules during the 1770s. The American government passed even stricter laws in 1804. Under these laws, enslaved people could not carry any guns. They were not allowed to hold large meetings or buy drinks.
The laws treated Black people very unfairly in legal matters. In 1825, the state ruled that Black people could not testify in court cases against white people. In 1847, the state passed a cruel law banning schools for Black children. Anyone caught teaching reading or writing faced heavy fines and jail time.
Even with these terrible rules, some brave people fought back. In 1824, the Missouri General Assembly passed a law allowing people to sue for freedom. Brave editors also spoke out against these laws. A writer named Elijah Lovejoy ran an antislavery newspaper called the Observer. Angry mobs attacked his printing press, forcing him to move across the river to Alton, Illinois.
The famous Dred Scott legal battle
In 1846, an enslaved man named Dred Scott started an important legal case in St. Louis. Scott had lived for years in places where slavery was banned, including Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory. Because he had lived in free territory, Scott argued that he was legally free. He used the Missouri courts to ask for his freedom and the freedom of his family.
Scott won his early trials, but his opponents appealed the verdict. The case went all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court, where he lost. Scott did not give up and filed a new lawsuit in federal court. By 1857, the case reached the highest court in the country, known as Dred Scott v. Sandford.
The Supreme Court ruled against Scott, saying Black people were not citizens under the Constitution. The court also decided that Congress could not ban slavery in federal territories. This shocking decision angered millions of Americans across the northern states. It made the national debate over slavery much worse. Although Scott lost in court, a friendly family later bought his freedom before he died.
Troubles along the western border
During the 1850s, arguments over slavery grew very heated along Missouri's western border. Missouri was next to open land created by the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican Cession. In 1854, the United States government passed the Kansas–Nebraska Act. This law said settlers in new territories would vote on slavery through popular sovereignty.
Many Missourians crossed the border into Kansas to influence these votes. They wanted Kansas to enter the Union as a slave state. Violence soon broke out between opposing groups, leading to a conflict called Bleeding Kansas. Bands of armed men fought along the border for several years.
A famous antislavery leader named John Brown became active during these fights. In December 1858, Brown entered Vernon County in southwestern Missouri. He helped eleven enslaved people escape toward freedom in the north. Brown led them on an incredible winter journey all the way to Detroit, Michigan. From there, they crossed safely into Canada on a ferry.
How slavery ended in Missouri
When the Civil War began in 1861, Missouri chose not to leave the Union. It became one of the important border states caught right in the middle. Because Missouri stayed loyal, President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation did not apply there. That famous proclamation only freed enslaved people in the rebelling Confederate territory.
Enslaved Missourians did not wait for the war to finish to seek their freedom. Many escaped from farms and joined the Union Army to fight for their liberty. Thousands of Black soldiers served bravely in military units throughout the war.
Finally, Missouri leaders held a special meeting to change the state's laws. On January 11, 1865, state delegates voted 60 to 4 to end slavery immediately. That very afternoon, Governor Thomas C. Fletcher issued an official proclamation celebrating the end of slavery. From that day forward, slavery was gone from Missouri forever.
See also
- Marguerite Scypion
- Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1861–1863
- History of slavery in the United States by state
- List of Missouri slave traders
