Missouri History
I. Indian Civilization
A. Prehistoric
1. “before written history”
2. Major tribes of Missouri:
a. Hopewell (500bc-400 ad)
-Mound Builders
b. Mississipian (900AD-1350 AD)
c. Osage and Missourian
--Farmers and Hunters
3. “Missouri”=land of large canoes
B. European Settlement
1. French Explorers
a. Fr. Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet
b. First written accounts of Missouri
exploration (1673)
2. French Colonization
a. Robert Cavalier, de la Salle
-Claimed Mississippi Valley for
France
-Called area Louisiana (1682)
Marquette and Joliet
b. Founding of Ste. Genevieve
1. 1st permanent white settlement
2. app. 1730
3. Louisiana Purchase
a. April, 1803
b. France sold area west of the Mississippi River
to the Rocky Mtns. to the US for $15 million
c. People involved:
1. Napoleon Bonaparte
2. President Thomas Jefferson
3. Robert Livingstone and James Monroe
C. Settlement of Missouri
1. Founding of St. Louis (Feb. 15, 1764)
a. Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau
b. Named the site St. Louis in honor of the
French King, Louis IX
c. Fur trading post
2. 1811—New Madrid earthquake, the worst in
US history, occurred (Dec. 16)
3. 1812---A portion of the Territory of Louisiana
became the Territory of Missouri (June 4)
4. 1812---The first general assembly of the
Territory of Missouri met (Oct. 1)
Video
D. The Missouri Compromise
1. In 1819, Missouri applied for statehood
2. Sparked debate over the status of slavery
3. Compromise:
a. Missouri admitted as a slave state (12)
b. Maine admitted as a free state (12)
c. Southern boundary of MO used to divide
free states from slave states
4. Missouri 24th state on Aug. 10, 1821
1820
E. First Government of Missouri
1. First state capitol=St. Charles (1821-1826)
2. Jefferson City became permanent capital city
in 1826
3. First Governor=Alexander McNair
F. Gateway to the West
1. St. Louis served as a base for those
exploring west.
--- Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804
2. Stephen F. Austin left MO to settle
territory of Texas
3. Westward expansion trails originated
in Missouri
G. Missouri in the Civil War
1. Dred Scott v. Sandford
(1846)
a. Dred Scott=Slave sued for
freedom
b. Controversial case in which
the Supreme Court ruled that
slaves could not be US citizens
Circuit Court
of St. Louis
Missouri Supreme
Court
United States
Supreme Court
2. Bleeding Kansas
a. Missouri=slave state
Kansas=free state
b. Kansas-Nebraska Act
--allowed new states to vote on the issue
of slavery (popular sovereignty)
c. MO residents attempted to vote illegally in
the KS elections
d. Resulted in several bloody attacks between
the MO ruffians and the KS settlers led by
John Brown.
3. Claiborne Jackson
a. was elected Governor of Missouri in 1861
b. Pro-Confederacy and attempted to seize
the St. Louis arsenal but was defeated
c. Pro-confederate govt. officials driven out
of Jefferson City by Union Captain
Nathaniel Lyon
--Battle of Boonville (June 17, 1861)
--Battle of Carthage (July 5, 1861)
4. Major Battles
a. Wilson’s Creek (Aug. 10, 1861)
1. 1st major battle of the Civil War west of the
Mississippi River. (Springfield area)
2. Bloody Confederate victory
b. Guerilla warfare (1862-1864)
1. MO Bushwhackers vs. KS Jayhawkers
2. Isolated ambushes
3. Bloody Bill Anderson and Quantrill's
Raiders
c. Battle of Westport (Oct. 23, 1864)
--Ended Sterling Price’s raid into northern
MO
II. Official State Emblems
A. State Motto
1. “Salus populi suprema lex esto”
2. Let the welfare of the people be the
supreme law
3. Taken from the Roman philosopher,
Cicero
B. The State Seal
1. Designed by Judge Robert William Wells
2. Adopted by the Missouri General
Assembly on January 11, 1822.
3. The Center:
a. Right Side (US Symbols)
 Bald eagle with arrows and olive
branches
 “the power of war and peace lies in the
hands of the Federal Govt.
Judge Robert
William Wells,
designer of the
Missouri State
Seal,
congressman
and Missouri’s
attorney general
from 1826 to
1836.
b. Left Side (State symbols)
1. Grizzly Bear (strength)
2. Silver Crescent Moon
a. symbolizes MO status/growth
b. 2nd state created out of the
Louisiana territory
4. The Shield
a. “United We stand, Divided we fall”
b. MO’s advantage of being a state in the
Union
5. Grizzly Bears
--symbolize the state's strength and its
citizens' bravery
6. MDCCCXX (1820)
--the year Missouri began functions of a US
state
7. Helmet and stars
helmet=represents state sovereignty
star=Missouri's status as the 24th state.
C. The State Flag
1. Missouri adopted an official flag on
March 22, 1913
2. Flag consists of:
• Red stripe represents valor
• White stripe represents purity
• Blue stripe represents justice
• The coat-of-arms (state seal) is in the
center
D. The State Animal
--Missouri Mule
E. State Flower
--Hawthorne
F. State Tree
--Flowering Dogwood
G. State Insect
--Honeybee
H. State Bird
--Blue Bird
I. State Fish
--Channel Catfish
J. Missouri Day
--Celebrated the third Wednesday in October
each year
K. The State Capitol
1. Jefferson City established in 1826
2. Three different capitol buildings in Jeff City
a. first two destroyed by fire
b. Current building finished in 1919 for
$4,215,000
---The building is 437 feet long, 300 feet wide
at its center and 200 feet wide in the wings.
3. Famous Statues at the Capitol
a. Thomas Jefferson on the south
entrance side
b. Ceres=goddess of vegetation on the
top of the dome
c. Louisiana Purchase bronze relief
Thomas Jefferson
CERES
Louisiana
Purchase
Relief
4. Inside the MO Capitol
a. Thomas Hart Benton Murals
b. Hall of Famous Missourians
--a collection of bronze busts depicting famous
Missourians and a plaque describing their
accomplishments and history.
MO House of Reps
The Missouri Senate