MISSOURI'S SECOND CONSTITUTION DREW FIRE

While Americans watched the hearing on Judge Clarence Thomas vs. Anita Hill last week before the United States Senate, they were unaware they were witnessing a chapter being written in the country's history. The sexual harassment hearing regarding a nominee to the Supreme Court was the first of its kind in the history of the country.

Since the United States is a democracy, the people have a right to know about individuals appointed to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, the body that rules on matters of question, whether they are right or wrong.

The votes cast by the senators were the wishes and opinions of the people they represented in their states and the people expressed their opinions. The close vote of 52-48 was a surprise.

Missouri experienced a similar situation, but not a harassment charge, when the second constitution of the state was written and adopted, April 10, 1865. It was known as the Drake Constitution, named for Charles D. Drake, a prominent St. Louis lawyer who promoted the movement for a new constitution for Missouri, and was chosen as its writer and the leader of the convention.

At the time the desire to have a new constitution for the state began, the original constitution, written and adopted in 1820-21, was in effect. A constitution had been required and accepted by Congress when Missouri petitioned to become a state, the 24th in the union. The first constitution was voted upon and passed only by the delegates to the constitutional convention. It was not voted upon by the people of the state. Of the 41 delegates sent to St. Louis' Mansion House to write the constitution and pass upon it, only one refused to sign it. The lone dissenter was Joseph McFerron of Cape Girardeau, who represented the county. He objected to the provision for electing the governor. Finally, on August 10, 1821, four years after Missouri's petition had been presented to Congress, Missouri became a state.

Missouri has had many firsts in the state's history. The story of Missouri's firsts would make an amazing book. The Drake Constitution could be included because it freed the slaves of Missouri before the Thirteenth Amendment was passed. The story in brief follows:

When Louis Houck came to Cape Girardeau, as an attorney, from St. Louis, to establish a law practice, April 21, 1869, everywhere he went he was confronted with questions about how he felt regarding the Drake Constitution. There was a loyalty oath in the constitution that men were obliged to take before they could vote. Only men voted at that time. Many voters objected to the oath, especially men of the church. But professional men in general did not like the oath.

Missouri was a borderline state, half the inhabitants sided with the North and half with the South during the Civil War. There were many political parties. If a man disagreed with the views of his party, he simply withdrew. And if he had a persuasive nature and a loud voice, he could be successful in starting a new party.

The Radicals ruled the state during the Civil War and for sometime after it ended.

When Abraham Lincoln of Illinois ran and was elected president in 1860, the Civil War began. The two forces in Missouri then clashed with a bang. Lincoln freed the slaves in the Southern states but that did not apply to those in the borderline states of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Many Missourians took exception to this. They felt Lincoln should apply emancipation to slaves in borderline states. Charles Drake and 66 delegates from Missouri went to Washington to get Lincoln to do that. Lincoln refused to do so.

This part of the debate is too long to include, but it caused a constitutional convention to be assembled in St. Louis at the Mercantile Library on Jan. 6, 1865 to write a new constitution. The convention lasted until April 10, 1865, and on that day the Drake Constitution was approved, giving freedom to slaves in Missouri and making slaves, 40 years of age and older, indentured servants with pay. Their masters were required to provide for them because they could not take care of themselves, or find employment at their age, with no education or training. Thus Missouri abolished slavery before the Thirteenth Amendment was passed by the United States government, Dec. 18, 1865. Emancipation in Missouri took place the day after the Civil War ended when Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Va., April 9.

There were many parts to the Drake Constitution. One regarding the Supreme Court of Missouri and the governor of the state. All of them were members of the Radical party. Those who had been in power, even the governor and all the judges, who were not Radical party members, were ousted.

The Drake Constitution served Missouri for 10 years. Drake was elected senator in 1867 and went to Washington where he served until 1871, when he resigned to take the position of Chief Justice of the U.S. Court of Claims. He died in office in 1875.

Missouri drew up a new and third constitution in 1875, which was adopted on October 30 when Charles H. Hardin, a Democrat, was elected governor of Missouri.

Today, Charles Drake and the second constitution of Missouri, named for him, are little known to the inhabitants of Missouri, unless they are interested in "Bloody Missouri's" past, which has been a tale of adventure from the day the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803, and part of the new territory became Missouri.