History of Missouri
Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, pp. 612-613
Dated and abstracted excerpts by George Langford, Jr.

Date	Excerpt
1804	Missouri was part of the Louisiana Purchase from France.
1812	The Santa Fe Trail had its beginning.
1814	The massive New Madrid earthquake blocked the Mississippi River and delayed the establishing of Missouri as a Territory.
1817	After the New Madrid earthquake, River Trade started between New Orleans, Louisiana and St. Louis, Missouri.
1819	River Trade entered the lower Missouri River.
1820	The "Missouri Compromise" delayed the admission of Missouri into the Union.  Alabama, as a Slave State, had just been admitted into the Union, and Maine, a Free State, was about to be admitted to balance Alabama.  The "Compromise" was to admit Missouri into the Union without its being designated "Slave" or "Free," and to allow Missouri to determine for itself the question of slavery.
August, 1824	Missouri formally admitted to Statehood.
1828	The Santa Fe Trail was surveyed by the Government.
1831	Independence, Missouri was the first great Trade Center at the Eastern end of the trail.
1831	National political parties became organized in Missouri, the Democratic Party was dominant and was pro-slavery whenever the issue was raised; but there was always a strong anti-slavery body in Missouri.
1832	By this date, Missouri river steamers ran to the mouth of the Yellowstone River.
1849	The anti-slavery forces in Missouri took organized form when Senator Thomas Hart Benton sparked anti-slavery instructions which were wired to Missouri's Congressional representation to guide them toward anti-slavery legislation. The first Territorial Election was held in Kansas and was chaotic, with both pro- and anti-slavery factions guilty of providing bogus voters.
1860	Anti-slavery, pro-Union Douglas received the electoral vote of Missouri.
1861	The Secessionists favored, and the Republicans opposed, the calling of a State Convention.
March 4, 1861	The Convention met, and by a vote of 80 to 1 resolved that "Missouri had no adequate cause to secede." Governor Jackson then sought to to gain his ends by other means, and both parties had the goal of capturing the Federal Arsenal at St. Louis.  The St. Louis Arsenal was won by the Union Army, but the Secessionists won a small arsenal at Liberty, Missouri.
May 10, 1861	Gov. Jackson had refused point-blank to furnish troops when called upon to do so by President Abraham Lincoln, and aggressive conflict began at St. Louis.
June, 1861	Armed hostilities began.
August, 1861	Gen. J.C. Fremont issued a Proclamation of Emancipation, immediately repudiated by Pres. Lincoln..
August 10, 1861	At Wilson's Creek, near Springfield, Missouri, Union troops, led by Gen. Nathaniel Lyon, were defeated by a superior Confederate force, until then holding more of Southern Missouri.
October, 1861	A rump of the deposed Assembly passed an Act of Recession, which the Confederate States saw fit to recognize, and Missouri was admitted to the Confederacy.
1862	The U.S. Congress rejected Pres. Lincoln's suggestion of a gradual emancipation, disenfranchising all Secessionists, and prepared a strong Oath of Allegiance.
Spring, 1862	The Confederate forces were driven out of Missouri into Arkansas, never afterwards to regain a foothold in Missouri.
Autumn, 1863	The Legislature decreed Emancipation with compensation to the slave owners.
October, 1863	The Legislature, assuming revolutionary powers, deposed Gov. Jackson and all his State officers, and appointed their substitutes.
Autumn, 1864	Gen. Sterling Price led a raid in an attempt to regain Missouri, but was defeated at the Battle of Westport [Kansas City.]
September 1864	The issue of unconditional Emancipation swept the State.
'1865	The State Constitutional Convention abolished slavery outright.  The test oath enforcement was greatly abused and was finally held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.