History of Missouri

Missouri became part of the United States in 1803 under the Louisiana Purchase. The territory was admitted as a US state following the Missouri Compromise of 1820.

The region around Missouri was inhabited by many indigenous peoples before the advent of colonization. The Mississippian culture before 1,000 CE, was the most complex where people created regional political centers. The culture declined by 1400 CE and the inhabitants left the area even before the Europeans arrived.

The first Europeans arrived in the late seventeenth century in the region around Missouri. At the time the inhabitants living there were pushed westward across the Mississippi River. The permanent European settlement began when the French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet descended the Mississippi River. These people were migrants of the Illinois County. They were followed by Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle who claimed the entire Mississippi Valley for France in 1682. By the end of the seventeenth century, trade flourished between the French forces and the Native Americans. The establishment of the settlement of Ste. Genevieve about 1735 and the founding of St. Louis in 1764 by Pierre Laclede and Rene Auguste Chouteau were major milestones in the trade business of the region around Missouri.

The defeat of France in the French and Indian Wars was a major setback to Missouri, as the territory of Mississippi was ceded to Spain by France in 1762. However, the Spanish rule ended in 1800 when Napoleon forced Spain to return Louisiana to France. According to the Louisiana Purchase, Missouri became part of the United States in 1803. After the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-6), Missouri earned the title of "Gateway to the West" as it was a major departure point for expeditions to the West in the nineteenth century.

In the early nineteenth century, many of the early American settlers in western Missouri migrated from the Upper South and brought enslaved African Americans for labor. With the introduction of slavery, the issue of admitting Missouri into the Union became a serious problem. Nevertheless, the problem was resolved by the Missouri Compromise, under which the territory of Missouri was admitted as a slave state in 1821 and St. Charles was made the state capital. Missouri is the twenty-fourth US state. Platte Purchase (1835), Mormon War (1838), conflicts over slavery and the immigration of Germans and other migrants in the territory were some of the crucial events of the nineteenth century.

Before the Civil War, there was complete disorder in the state, resulting from the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The Act called for the emancipation of the slaves, which led to violence and disorder. There were leaders in Missouri (like Thomas Hart Benton) who opposed slavery. The lawlessness in the state was further fuelled by the Guerrilla activities. In 1861, the secession of southern states began and the Missouri legislature called for the election of a special convention on secession. The following year in 1862, a provisional government was set up by the convention.

There was rapid growth of urbanization and industrialization in the state. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held at St. Louis in 1904, was proof of Missouri's economic prosperity.

Missouri continued to advance rapidly in the early twentieth century. General prosperity prevailed in the state during the First World War. But the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s saw farm values crashing, and many banks failed. Unemployment was a serious problem However, the economy revived during the Second World War as industrialization increased. St. Louis and Kansas City served as vital transportation centers.

After the war, Missouri became the second-largest producer of automobiles in the United States. The farm crisis of the 1980s again affected the economy of the state, and many farms in the state failed. The state's industries also suffered during this period. However, by the 1990s, the economy improved.