CHAPTER II
It is not necessary to trace the history of Missouri prior to the time when, as a part of Louisiana, it was ceded by the French to the United States.
At the time of this session, the actual transfer of the territory by Spain which had been agreed upon in 1800 had not been made. In April, 1803, the agreement was entered into by France to sell this country to the United States, the treaty being ratified by Congress in October of the same year.
This accounts for the fact that when Captain Amos Stoddard of the United States Army went from New Orleans to St. Louis, to act as an agent of the American Government in accepting formal possession from France, he also acted as an agent for the French Government and accepted formal possession from Spain, on the same day lowering the Spanish flag and running up in its place the emblem of France, which was immediately permanently displaced by the Stars and Stripes as the symbol of the permanent authority of the United States Government.
At the time of this transfer, Missouri had a population of ten thousand, due, in great part, to migrations from regions east of the Mississippi River. These migrations came from two different sources - first, from French settlements in the Illinois country and second, from more recently established American settlements in Kentucky and Tennessee.
More than a half of the population of Missouri in 1804 were Americans.
Very few Spaniards had settled in the province, especially in the State of Missouri, even though Louisiana had been controlled by Spain for thirty-five years prior to its purchase by the United States.
Until the coming of the American, the population of the Missouri country was almost exclusively of French descent. By 1810, the population had grown to be twenty thousand, this primarily due to American immigration.
At this period in the history of Missouri, it was divided for purposes of administration and settlement, into five districts. The St. Charles district included all the territory lying between the Missouri and the Mississippi Elvers, the oldest settlement being St. Charles, which was founded in 1780.
The territory between the Missouri River on the north and the Meramec on the south, extending indefinitely to the west and including the country now known as Henry County, was included in the St. Louis district. At the time of the transfer, St. Louis had a population of about one thousand. Several other settlements, all of them in the extreme eastern part of the district along the Meramec River, had been made by this time.
South of the St. Louis district lay the St. Genevieve district, in which was located the first permanent white settlement in Missouri. This was the most populous part of the State at the time of the transfer. South of the St Genevieve were the Cape Girardeau district, in which Cape Girardeau was the first settlement, and the New Madrid district, which extended as far south as the present site of Helena, Arkansas, and in which district the town of New Madrid was the first settlement.
At the time of this transfer Spain had divided the colony, for local administration, into two provinces called lower and upper Louisiana, Missouri being included in the upper province, for which there was a lieutenant-governor residing in St. Louis. Shortly after the ratification of the Louisiana Purchase treaty Congress passed an act providing for the government of the newly-acquired territory. Acting in accordance with the provisions of this act, the President appointed Amos Stoddard as Commandant of upper Louisiana. In 1804, Congress divided the territory, all south of the thirty-third parallel being designated as the territory of Orleans, while all north of that line was to be known as the district of Louisiana, which for purposes of administration was put under the government of the territory of Indiana.
In response to a petition of remonstrance. Congress provided, in 1805, for a separate territorial organization for the district of Louisiana and changed its name to that of the Territory of Louisiana. Executive authority was vested in a governor appointed by the President for a term of three years and legislative power was to be exercised by this governor and three judges who were appointed by the President for a term of four years. There was no provision for a delegate to Congress nor for elective officers of any sort in the territory. In 1812, the territory of Orleans was admitted into the Union as the State of Louisiana, at which time the name of the territory of Louisiana was changed to Missouri. There was created a Legislature of two houses composed of a legislative council of nine members, appointed by the President, and a House of Representatives made up of members elected for two years by the people. In 1816, there was another change made in the government of the Territory of Missouri, the legislative council being elected instead of appointed by the President, the Legislature to hold biennial instead of annual sessions.
In 1819, that part of Missouri which lay south of the present boundary line of Missouri and north of the thirty-third parallel, was detached and named the Territory of Arkansas.
Shortly after the above-named changes, came the struggle of Missouri for admission as a State.
