Divided loyalties audio tour panel 6

In 1849, almost thirty years after Missouri's admission to the Union, and 8 years before the Dred Scott decision, the issue of whether the state or federal government should make laws concerning slavery was still being hotly debated in the US Congress. The Missouri State Legislature felt it should decide this issue for the state, and passed the Jackson Resolutions to that effect. The Resolutions instructed the state's congressional delegation how to vote on the matter of whether slavery would be allowed in new territories. Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton believed the issue should be decided by Congress, and refused to abide by the resolutions. As a result, he lost his 1850 re-election campaign to Whig Henry S. Geyer. This sentiment was also reflected at the national level in the 1860 presidential election, in which Lincoln did not win a single Southern or border state.

The documents on this panel illustrate how events rapidly escalated towards war in 1860 and 1861.