Missouri Missouri is located in the Midwest, surrounded by the states of Iowa to the north; Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma to the west; Arkansas to the south; and Illinois and Kentucky to the east. The Mississippi River forms the boundary between Missouri and its neighbors to the east. Early History Like the rest of North America, people called Paleo-Indians lived in Missouri around 10,000 BCE and they were eventually replaced with people of the Archaic Period which began about 6,000 years ago. While these early people followed animal migrations, the next people to emerge, known as the Woodland culture, began farming and settling in one place. Eventually societies of people who are known as Mound Builders developed towns in the Mississippi River valley; this culture built large mounds of earth and rocks that were mainly used for burials. There once were many of these mounds in the vicinity of St. Louis, but most of these have been destroyed with urban development. Around 1000 CE, Native American nations with names we recognize began forming in Missouri as Native People were moving about North America. The Ioway people lived in the northeast corner of present-day Missouri and into Iowa while the Oto people occupied the territory of northwest Missouri. The Missouri Indians built dome-shaped homes covered with earth in the north central portion of the state. The Kansa tribe lived in the area in the middle of the border between Missouri and Kansas, while the Creek, Quapaw and Chickasaw people each had territory in the south along the present Missouri-Arkansas border. The Osage people, the largest Native American group in Missouri, lived in the southwest corner of the state. The Native Americans were not affected by European explorers until the late 1600s. Father Marquette and Louis Joliet left French Canada and explored the Mississippi River, traveling as far south as Missouri. In 1682 LaSalle, another French explorer, began in the north and traversed the length of the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming all the land for France. At first, French traders came in search of furs, but in 1715 the first lead mine was dug near Fredericktown, located in southeast Missouri. Lead was important for making bullets and other metal objects. Salt was another natural resource that was
found in abundance along the Mississippi River in Missouri. In 1735 the town of Ste. Genevieve was founded in a location with lead and salt readily available. The next French settlement was located where the Missouri River met the Mississippi River; this settlement was St. Louis. During the French and Indian War, which lasted from 1754 until 1763, the British fought an alliance of the French and Native Americans for control of lands in the central portion of North America. To protect this land, France placed lands including Missouri under the control of the Spanish. The British finally won the French and Indian War only to fight the Revolutionary War beginning in 1775. In that same year Daniel Boone crossed through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains and his efforts resulted in the Wilderness Road that allowed settlers to cross the mountain range. By 1800 Spain had returned the North American lands to France; the French then sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The land of present-day Missouri was finally part of the United States. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the newly acquired land. Their expedition departed from St. Louis and traveled up the Missouri River. The expedition eventually reached the Pacific Ocean. Towards Statehood In order to avoid confusion between the state and the remaining land in the Louisiana Purchase, the land in the Louisiana Purchase was called the Missouri Territory beginning in 1812, the year that Louisiana became a state. In 1819, the southeastern corner of the Missouri Territory was split off as the Arkansas Territory. Meanwhile in 1818, the area of present-day Missouri had sufficient population to become a state, but statehood was denied by the federal government. Slavery had long been a major issue in state and federal politics. Slavery was controlled by state constitutions and in 1818 there were an equal number of Slave States which allowed slavery and Free States which did not. This meant that there were an equal number of Senators in Congress representing both sides of the issue. In 1820 Congress passed the Missouri Compromise; as a result Missouri became a Slave State and Maine became a Free State at the same time.
The original state boundary did not include the current northwest corner of land. In 1836 President Andrew Jackson acquired this land from the Native American people residing there and the residents were moved to Kansas. In 1838 the Missouri legislature decreed that it was illegal for Native Americans to live in the state and the law was officially repealed in 1909.
Circle True or False after analyzing each of the following statements. 1. True False The Mississippi River forms the boundary between Missouri and its neighbors to the east, Kansas and Nebraska. 2. True False Paleo-Indians are the earliest known human inhabitants of the land known today as Missouri. 3. True False The largest group of Native Americans who occupied the area where Missouri is today were the Chickasaw Nation. 4. True False French explorers Marquette and Joliet traveled from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico on the Mississippi River. 5. True False Around the time of the French explorers two important natural resources found in Missouri were salt and lead. 6. True False St. Louis, a Spanish settlement, was established where the Mississippi River meets the Missouri River. 7. True False Even though France originally claimed the area around the Mississippi River, the land was given to Spain during the French and Indian War. 8. True False Daniel Boone crossed through the Cumberland Gap in the Appalachian Mountains and his efforts resulted in the Wilderness Road that allowed settlers to cross the mountain range. 9. True False Missouri was initially denied statehood because slavery was controlled by the federal government. 10. True False Because of the Missouri Compromise Missouri and Maine became states at the same time.
Answers 1. False 2. True 3. False 4. False 5. True 6. False 7. True 8. True 9. False 10. True