1870 Missouri gubernatorial election

Senator Carl Schurz took a leading role in the Liberal faction, using the Missouri race as a platform to criticize allies of President Ulysses S. Grant and eventually, Grant himself.

During the American Civil War, Missouri had been one of the hotly contested border states, with many residents joining each side of the conflict. After the war ended in 1865, the restoration of voting rights for those who had joined the Confederate States Army was the focus of political debate throughout the country, but particularly in Missouri, a tightly divided state where so many residents would be affected.[1]

In 1865, more radical elements of the National Union Party gained power and instituted a sweeping proscription of rights for those engaged in rebellion. Their new constitution for Missouri was referred to as the "Draconian Constitution" for its loyalty oath provisions, designed to keep all but the most ardent Unionists from participating in government.[2][lower-alpha 1]

At St. Louis in December 1866, conservative elements, concerned both with the principle of proscription and its effect on their political power, responded by calling for an equally radical policy of universal amnesty and enfranchisement.[1] Because they were concerned with the political liberty of ex-Confederates, this faction was known as the "liberals," in contrast to the anti-enfranchisement "radicals." The liberals were led by Benjamin Gratz Brown, a former Democratic supporter of Thomas Hart Benton and anti-slavery Union Army veteran. Gratz was joined within the year by Carl Schurz, one of Lincoln's political generals and the leading figure in the German immigrant community and the American Forty-Eighters. Schurz had successfully supported enfranchisement at the 1864 national convention.[1]

In 1869, Schurz won election to the United States Senate as the representative of the liberals, despite the efforts of senior Senator and radical political boss Charles D. Drake. In 1870, differences over enfranchisement had divided the state into distinct Radical and Liberal wings.[3]

In addition to the debate over enfranchisement, federal patronage and tariff reform divided Missouri Republicans.[4] William McKee, publisher of the Missouri Democrat, backed the Liberal movement after breaking with President Ulysses S. Grant over federal appointments in the state; Grant usually passed over McKee's own choices in favor of his own personal friends. Many Missourians also opposed the extension of the wartime tariff measures, which were taken to disproportionately restrict Western agriculture exports to the benefit of Eastern industry.[5]

The Missouri legislature proposed amendments to the state constitution to be ratified by referendum at the 1870 election which would remove remaining penalties for Confederates. Whether and to what extent to endorse these amendments was the dominant question at the state party convention in August 1870.[3] Radicals presented a resolution declaring for enfranchisement "as soon as it can be done with safety to the State," while Liberals countered with a declaration "unequivocally in favor of the adoption of the Constitution Amendments."[3]

A vote was taken, and the Radical resolution won by a majority of ninety-seven votes.[3] Immediately after the vote, the 250 Liberal delegates withdrew and organized a separate convention. Some Liberals accused Radicals of stacking the convention by manipulating Black voters and holding "snap" caucuses to prevent Liberal participation.[3] After the regular convention failed to resolve the differences between the planks via conference committee, the Liberals announced a ticket of their own, led by Gratz Brown for Governor.[3]

The Democratic Party, moribund in the state since the War and the implementation of the loyalty oaths, adopted a "passive policy" of support for Brown and a complete cessation of party activity. The leading Democratic newspaper, the Missouri Republican, eventually openly embraced Brown and the Liberal ticket.[4]

As a result of the Liberal-Democratic victory in the legislature, Francis P. Blair Jr. was elected to succeed Drake in the United States Senate.[8]

Schurz delivered a speech in the United States Senate in December which presented an elaborate exposition and defense of the "Missouri movement," signaling a permanent break with the administration which would later lead to the establishment of the national Liberal Republican Party in opposition to Grant's re-election.[8]