Missouri

State: Missouri

Lat/Long: 38.0000, -91.8318

Congress created the state of Missouri out of an eastern section of the Missouri Territory on August 10, 1821. Its admission to the Union was one of the most controversial actions in American history, resulting in the Missouri Compromise, which established Missouri as a slave state. Missouri was bitterly divided between secessionists and Unionist during the Civil War, resulting in a bloody internal conflict. The state, however, remained within the Union for the duration of the war. St. Charles was the original temporary capital but Jefferson City became the state government's permanent seat in 1826.

"An Act to Authorize the People of the Missouri Territory to Form a Constitution and State Government, and for the Admission of Such State into the Union on an Equal Footing with the Original States, and to Prohibit Slavery in Certain Territories," 6 March 1820, Statutes at Large of the United States 3 (1846):545-48; "Resolution Providing for the Admission of the State of Missouri into the Union, on a Certain Condition," 2 March 1821, Statutes at Large of the United States 3 (1846):645; "Proclamation Respecting the Admission of the State of Missouri into the Union," 10 August 1821, Statutes at Large of the United States 3 (1846):797; Goodspeed's History of Southeast Missouri (1888; repr. Cape Girardeau, MO: Ramfre, 1955), 57-60, 92-136.