Beauty of Missouri [antikvár]

The Missouri Waltz It's hard to settle on any one label to size up neatly the state of Missouri. Even Missouri's role in the affairs of the nation has changed over the years. For a long time it was the western edge of the country, wild and unknown Indian territory across one colossal river and drained by another. After the exploits of Lewis and Clark galvanized the infant nation into a great move westward, eastern Missouri changed from a lonely outpost to an advance way station and outfitter for the stream of pioneers bound for the Louisiana Purchase lands and beyond. Missouri became a state in 1821. In the 1840s its western communities took over the role of staging area, this time for the great caravans of wagon trains bound for the Far West, the land beyond the Rockies. In mid-century, when the California Gold Rush threatened to tilt the continent into the Pacific Ocean, Missouri's central position and St. Louis' commercial know-how in equipping and guiding the parties of would-be miners helped the state to a new spurt of growth. The years preceding the Civil War were unsettled and tumultuous for Missouri. Slavery was permitted in the state, and a strong pro-South sentiment had developed among the slave-holders, who were a minority, but politically powerful. The slavery advocates were concentrated along the Missouri River and in the southeast. But other Missourians were pushing for abolition, most of these living and working in the St. Louis commercial sphere. These Missourians were now in the majority, working-class citizens who had been born in the Old Country. Their objections