Nathan Boone and the 1820 Missouri Constitutional Convention

by Bob Brail

This year marks the bicentennial of Missouri's constitution, which preceded statehood by one year. Although the records of the Missouri Constitutional Convention which generated the document are somewhat sketchy compared to a comparable event today, enough records exist to gain an understanding of which representatives played important roles. What about the men who represented St. Charles County? More specifically, did anyone from Boone-Duden country play a significant part?

In May, 1820, approximately 10,000 residents of the Missouri Territory cast their votes for the men who would represent them at the Constitutional Convention to be held later that year. Eligibility was limited to males at least twenty-one years old who had lived in the territory at least three months. At the time the territory had fifteen counties. These fifteen counties would be represented by forty-one men, with representation apportioned based on population. St. Louis County had the most delegates with eight. Howard and Cape Girardeau Counties each had five, and St. Charles County had the fourth highest total with three. The convention was held at in the dining room of the Mansion House Hotel in St. Louis (the building was razed in the 1880's).

Most of the men who were elected to serve at the Missouri Constitutional Convention were wealthy, many of them being successful businessmen. As might be expected, many were lawyers with political experience. Twenty-six had attended college or “studied under outstanding men.” The great majority of them had originally come from slave-holding states and firmly supported slavery. In fact, only five counties even had candidates who favored restricting slavery. Their average age of the delegates was thirty-seven.

Three men elected to serve St. Charles County. Two were from the northern part of the county, Benjamin Emmons and Hiram Baber. The only delegate from the county's southern region was Nathan Boone, well-known son of Daniel Boone. Historian R. Douglas Hunt writes that Nathan Boone “had virtually no experience in politics and had been elected solely on his reputation earned” as a soldier. Boone would end up having little positive impact on the proceedings.

The convention convened on Monday, June 12. One of the first matters of business attended to on the next day was the appointment of the Printing Committee. Boone was one of three men chosen. This would be his only official duty at the convention. In a decision that would cause a stir among local printers, the committee presented only one bid. Isaac N. Henry was the printer chosen to do the work; the main investor in his company was Thomas Hart Benton, a powerful St. Louis lawyer who had worked hard to ensure that antislavery representatives would not be elected to the convention. Several complaints resulted, including that of printer Joseph Charles, who said he would have done the work for one fifth the price. Perhaps such shenanigans were not surprising, but this action of Nathan Boone and the Printing Committee was not impressive.

Not surprisingly, since so many “well-known, pro-slavery” men had been elected to the convention, the constitution they created, they “took great pains to protect slavery.” No emancipation of slaves could occur without the consent and compensation of their owners. The constitution granted the legislature the power to keep free blacks and mulattoes out of Missouri and require emancipated slaves to leave the state. Nathan Boone voted with the overwhelming majority in support of these measures. In this regard, he was a man of his time.

Boone's lack of impact on the proceedings was evidenced in other ways. For example, the delegates introduced 102 measures for the consideration of their peers during the convention. Nathan Boone was responsible for only one. On July 10, Boone made a proposal that would have made St. Charles the seat of Missouri's government for the next several years. The measure was voted down by the delegates. Boone was also absent from the proceedings for eight days for reasons which are not known. He therefore missed seventeen votes, more than all but three other delegates. When he did vote, Boone was in the group of delegates who most often voted with the majority, “join[ing] his colleagues . . . in supporting the reports of the various committees.” In his detailed analysis of the delegates' contributions, historian F. C. Shoemaker argues that fifteen of the forty-one delegates were the principal framers of Missouri's first constitution. Nathan Boone is not included in this group.

On Wednesday, July 19, the forty-one delegates finished their work by adopting the constitution they had created. There would be no opportunity for the citizens of the territory to vote for or against the new document; it was sent to Congress for approval. The Constitutional Committee authorized the printing of 1200 copies of the constitution, including 300 in French.

Although author Lucille Morris Upton wrote in the early 1930's that “Major Boone was among those of leading influence” at the 1820 Missouri Constitution Convention, an objective look at the evidence unavoidably leads to a different conclusion. While Nathan Boone was undoubtedly a successful businessman, military hero, and important figure in Missouri, “[h]is world was not that of politics, conference rooms, and secret maneuvering.” Perhaps he had done his best, but that did not make Nathan Boone a significant participant in the 1820 Missouri Constitutional Convention.

Sources: The Genesis of Missouri: From Wilderness Outpost to Statehood; (William E.Foley); History of Missouri, Volume II, 1820-1860 (Perry McCandless); Journal of the Missouri State Convention (babel./hathitrust.org); Missouri Historical Society (mohistory.org); Missouri's Struggle for Statehood (F. C. Shoemaker); Nathan Boone and the American Frontier (R. Douglas Hunt); Nathan Boone the Neglected Hero (Carole Bills, ed); “Thomas Hart Benton” (shsmo.org).