Editing History of Missouri (section)

===Radicalism and Reconstruction===
In November 1864 national and statewide elections gave the [[Radical Republicans]] strong majorities.<ref name="parrish 1973 114">Parrish (1973), 114.</ref> In the General Assembly, most newly elected representatives were relatively young farmers; 56 percent of Radicals were under 45, and 36 percent worked in agriculture. In congressional elections, all but one of the victors was a Republican, and voters passed a proposal for a state convention to rewrite the state constitution. Any person who had given any sort of indirect support to the Confederacy lost his vote and the right to hold office or practice a profession.<ref name="parrish 1973 114"/>

Drake served as vice president of the 1865 state constitutional convention, where he stood out as the most active leader. Republican leader [[Carl Schurz]] commented about him, "in politics he was inexorable ... most of the members of his party, especially in the country districts, stood much in awe of him."<ref>{{cite book|author=Carl Schurz|title=The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz|publisher=J. Murray|url=https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofc0003schu|year=1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofc0003schu/page/294 294]}}</ref> The state convention began deliberating on January 7, 1865, in St. Louis; the group was, like the General Assembly, dominated by relatively young Radical Republicans. Among the first measures taken by the convention was the passage of an [[abolitionism in the United States|emancipation]] ordinance on January 11 that took effect immediately. It freed all of the slaves in Missouri, without compensation to the owners.<ref>Parrish, ''A History of Missouri: 1860 to 1875'' (1973) pp 116–17.</ref>

The new Constitution was adopted and became known as the "Drake constitution." The Radicals maintained absolute control of the state from 1865 to 1871, with Drake as their leader. The new government replaced hundreds of locally elected officials and appointed their own officials to take control of local affairs. The Radicals disfranchised every man who had supported the Confederacy, even indirectly. They made an 81-point checklist of actions that could cause disfranchisement and imposed an [[Ironclad Oath]] on all professional men, and government officeholders.<ref name=Finkelman/><ref name=Cummings/><ref name=Kohl/>

It became a highly controversial political issue that split the Republican party. The German Republicans in particular were angry. Historians have emphasized the desire for power, revenge, and equal rights for blacks. The radicals had another goal as well: They used disfranchisement of ex-Confederates as a method of encouraging them to leave Missouri and to discourage southern whites with the same ideals from migrating into Missouri. The idea was that Missouri would attract Northerners and European immigrants, thus generating economic growth and social progress.<ref name=Kohl>Martha Kohl, "Enforcing a Vision of Community: The Role of the Test Oath in Missouri's Reconstruction." ''Civil War History'' 40.4 (1994): 292–307.</ref> In 1867 the United States Supreme Court held that the federal ironclad oath for attorneys and the similar Missouri state oath for ministers, lawyers teachers, and other professionals were unconstitutional, because they violated the constitutional prohibitions against [[Bill of attainder|bills of attainder]] and [[ex post facto law]]s.<ref name=Finkelman>{{cite book|editor=Paul Finkelman|title=Religion and American Law: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nWO2AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT133|year=1999|publisher=Routledge|pages=133–34|isbn=9781136919565}}</ref><ref name=Cummings>''Cummings v. Missouri,'' 4 Wall. 277 (1867); ''Ex parte Garland,'' 4 Wall. 333 (1867).</ref><ref>Harold Hyman, ''To try men's souls'' (1959), p 261</ref>

To further bolster their voting base, the Radicals sought the franchise for all black men in Missouri. A statewide referendum in 1868, the Democrats were solidly negative, while Republicans split their vote, and black suffrage was defeated with 55,000 favor and 74,000 opposed. Missouri black men finally got the vote in 1870 with the passage of the 15th Amendment.<ref>Martha Kohl, "From Freedom to Franchise: The Debate over African American Enfranchisement, 1865–1870" ''Gateway Heritage'' 16 (1996): 22–35.</ref> Meanwhile, the Radical faction increasingly lost support inside Missouri to the Liberal Republicans led by Senator Carl Schurz and Governor [[Benjamin Gratz Brown]].<ref>William E. Parrish, "Reconstruction Politics in Missouri, 1865–1870." in Richard O. Curry, ed. ''Radicalism, Racism, and Party Realignment: The Border States during Reconstruction'' (1969) pp: 1–36.</ref>