The Slave-Owning Missourian Who Helped End Slavery

“…a slave-owning Missouri senator from a slave state
was the co-author and co-sponsor of the bill
that prohibited slavery in the United States.”

Here is a story that changed the course of United States history, yet few people know how vital a Missourian was in making it happen. History largely recognizes President Abraham Lincoln as the man who helped abolish slavery. But the man who co-authored the bill that became the 13th Amendment to the Constitution grew up right here in the Show Me State. And the strangest part of all — he owned slaves. Yes, a slave-owning Missouri man actually helped end slavery in the U.S.

John Brooks Henderson

John Brooks Henderson was born on November 16, 1824, in Virginia where he lived until the age of seven. His family hit challenging times as farmers, so they moved to Missouri and settled in Lincoln County in 1832. Both parents died four years later when John was 12, making childhood even tougher for him. He received little education during his teen years as he was helping raise his siblings, but moved to Prarieville Township in Pike County (Eolia area) at the age of 19 to get additional schooling.

One year after starting school again, he began teaching at a small school in the community of Prairieville, while also starting to study law. He never attended law school, but learned enough to pass the Bar Exam, which allowed him to practice law. He quit teaching shortly after that and opened a law practice in Clarksville while living in Louisiana, Missouri. Henderson was now a 23-year-old practicing attorney with big goals ahead.

Henderson’s Rise to Prominence

Henderson worked his way up the political ladder by starting as a state representative, where he proposed an expansion of slavery. And that is where his story takes an interesting twist.

Henderson was back in northeast Missouri practicing law as the nation descended into the Civil War. As most will remember, the Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to enter the country as a slave state. But in 1861, Missouri state political leaders decided to side with the Union in the fight over state’s rights, which led to the controversial “loyalty oath.”

That oath meant that state officials had to be loyal to the United States, or they were forced from office. The sitting Missouri Senator, Trusten Polk, refused to take the oath and stepped down from the office. Henderson was chosen to serve out the remainder of that term until the next election.

Senator Henderson

Henderson was in an odd position because he was a Union supporter, but also a slaveholder. So, his first few months in office were spent trying to garner support for the idea that emancipation should take place, but it should be slow. He believed that slaveholders should be compensated for their losses after slaves were freed. President Lincoln also shared that idea, so the effort began to gain momentum. The Missouri Senator even told Abraham Lincoln, “A great change is going on in the public mind in regard to this question.”

Henderson Writes the 13th Amendment

The slavery issue finally came to a head in 1864 not long after Henderson won an election that gave him a full-term as Missouri Senator. Members in the House of Representatives first drafted a bill to abolish slavery. At about the same time, Senator Henderson drafted a companion bill in the Senate. After much debate, the bills were merged and approved by Congress on January 31st, 1865. When President Lincoln signed it the next day it became the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Two months later, Lincoln was assassinated.

The amazing thing about this story is that a Missouri slave-owning Senator from a slave state was the co-author and co-sponsor of the bill that prohibited slavery in the United States. But that wasn’t his only history-making moment.

Henderson’s Second Historical Moment

Henderson came back to Missouri once his time in the Senate was over. This time, he and his wife moved to St. Louis and bought an elegant home at 3010 Pine Avenue where they became an influential couple in business and on the social circuit. He ran for governor in 1872, but lost to Silas Woodson of St. Joseph. So Henderson went back to practicing law.

President Ulysses Grant also owned a home in Missouri at the time. Henderson and Grant knew each other on a professional level, and President Grant was impressed by his legal abilities. So Grant appointed him to become the nation’s first special prosecutor when he asked Henderson to investigate the Whiskey Ring case in St. Louis in 1876. Grant eventually fired Henderson over disagreements in how to prosecute the case, which became one of the most scandalous trials in early American history.

He and his wife later moved back to Washington DC and crafted one final piece of history. They constructed what was known as the Boundary Castle in 1888, just outside of the city limits of Washington DC. The family held elegant parties and entertained the most powerful people in the United States. Due to his “now” high profile status, getting an invitation to a party at the Henderson’s mansion was instant bragging rights. The home was eventually razed to make way for new developments as the nation’s capital city began to grow.

Addendum

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This was a complex story to write due to the complexities of that era. I reached out to several Missouri history professors who I admire greatly to get their input. One of the best of the best is Dr. Jeremy Neely of Missouri State University. Here was his additional input on the story.

“(President Lincoln) regarded those conservative Unionists, including slaveholders like Henderson, as the vital middle of the body politic, and thus was wary of moving too aggressively against slavery in the border states, which meant that Missouri (like Kentucky and Maryland) was exempted from the Emancipation Proclamation. As a result, the push for abolition ultimately had to come from within the border states themselves.

Historians differ over which groups deserve the most credit, whether it was the enslaved people who took their fate into their own hands by running away or the Union soldiers who helped to secure their freedom, but you make a fair case that political moderates like (Henderson) were key actors in moving the issue forward, even if their early steps, such as the 1863 abolition ordinance proposed in Missouri (which would have allowed slavery to survive for decades longer), seem like such tentative steps today.”

Dr. Jeremy Neely
Missouri State University