Armed Neutrality: Daily Civil War Observations from Rolla

By: Ryan Reed

 

Rolla Express

January 14, 1861

Vol. 1 No. 26

 

Extraction From Gov. Stewart’s Message

Missouri and Secession

Truncated

 

Robert Stewart-14th Governor of Missouri

“As matters are at present Missouri will stand her lot, and hold to the Union as long as it is worth an effort to preserve it.  So long as there is hope of success she will seek for justice within the Union.  She cannot be frightened from her property by the past unfriendly legislation of the North, nor be dragooned into secession by the extreme South.  If those who should be our friends and allies undertake to render our property worthless by a system of prohibitory laws, or by reopening the slave trade in opposition to the moral sense of the civilized world, and at the same time reduce us to the position of an humble sentinel to watch over and protect their interests, receiving all the blows and none of the benefits, Missouri will hesitate long before sanctioning such an arrangement.  She will rather take the high position of armed neutrality.  She is able to take care of herself, and will be neither forced nor flattered, driven nor coaxed, into a course of action that must end in her own destruction.”

 

The outgoing Governor of Missouri, Robert M. Stewart, sent his final message to the Missouri legislature on January 3^rd.  It was the same day his successor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, was inaugurated.  Gov. Stewart was a typical Northern Democrat, born in New York but a long resident of Missouri.  He was a strong supporter of Stephen Douglas for the Presidency and believed that Southern people had the constitutional right to take their slaves into new Territories, such as Kansas and Nebraska.  He never pretended to be in love with slavery but he believed that the Constitution and subsequent laws granted full protection to the institution. 

 

In his final message he denied the right of secession and denounced South Carolina for its actions.  He recognized that Union as the source of innumerable blessings and would preserve it.  Stewart urged Missouri to adopt armed neutrality in the impending war and not to provide men or arms to either side.  He also laid out a platform to create a militia to enforce the stance of armed neutrality.

 

The inaugural address of the new Governor, Claiborne Jackson, professed a love of the Union but subsequently made a bitter appeal for secession.  Jackson applauded the “gallantry” of South Carolina and stated when push comes to shove, Missouri should side with the South.