AN ORDINANCE ABOLISHING SLAVERY IN MISSOURI Be it ordained by the People of the State of Missouri, in Convention assembled That hereafter, in this State, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; and all persons held to service or labor as slaves are hereby declared free.
Over 150 years ago, Missouri freed its enslaved on January 11, 1865. The State’s constitution allowed slavery, as it gained statehood on August 10, 1821, following the Missouri Compromise. Many would later reflect that this was the beginning of the “War between the States,” otherwise known today as the Civil War.
By the 10th of January, a new Ordinance had been written and laid upon the table to be read before the proceedings the next day. On January 11, the Convention dispensed with the rule that the new Ordinance had to be read and voted on three separate days, allowing all three to occur simultaneously. The first reading was held, and the vote was 60-4. With three members not present. There was some discussion, and a few words were substituted, but the essence of the motion remained the same. The second reading was held, and a highly respected Unitarian minister, William Greenleaf Eliot offered a prayer for the proceedings. Drake asked that the 44th Rule be suspended and that the Constitutional Amendment be adopted. And for the third and final reading, William G. Owens from Franklin County called for the vote, and the issue was so adopted. From that moment forward, all of those who had been born enslaved, brought to Missouri to continue their enslavement, and any in the future, would be forever free!
For years, Missouri had struggled with its past! The slaveholders who had created the state were no longer winning. Missouri would join the rest of the country to see that slavery ceased to exist – forever!
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