Editing History of Missouri (section)

===Return to political conservatism===
Radical rule alienated group after group, diminishing the strength of the Republican Party. One critical element were the German Americans, who had voted 80 percent for Lincoln in 1860, and who strongly supported the war effort. They were a bastion of the Republican Party in St. Louis and other immigrant strongholds. The German Americans were angered by a proposed state constitution that discriminating against Catholics and freethinkers. The requirement of a special loyalty oath for priests and ministers was troublesome. Despite their strong opposition the constitution was ratified in 1865. Racial tensions with the blacks began to emerge, especially in terms of competition for unskilled labor jobs. Germania was nervous about black suffrage in 1868, fearing that blacks would support puritanical laws Especially regarding the prohibition of beer gardens on Sundays. The tensions split off a large German element in 1872, which supported the [[Liberal Republican party]] led by [[Benjamin Gratz Brown]] for governor in 1870 and [[Horace Greeley]] for president in 1872.<ref>Kristen L. Anderson, "German Americans, African Americans, and the Republican Party in St. Louis, 1865–1872." ''Journal of American Ethnic History'' 28.1 (2008): 34–51. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27501880 in JSTOR]</ref> The split between the Radical Republicans and the Liberal Republicans proved fatal to the party. Most started to vote for the Democrats. Furthermore, the nationwide [[Panic of 1873]] was a severe economic depression that undermined the Republican promises of prosperity. Violence grew much more serious, with many attacks on banks and trains. The farmers started to organize to protect their interests. In August 1874, the Democratic Party nominated [[Charles Henry Hardin]] as a compromise candidate for governor.<ref>Christensen (2004), 5.</ref> They nominated agriculturalist [[Norman Jay Colman]] as candidate for lieutenant governor. He drew support from rural areas due to his endorsement of [[Free Silver]] and his desire to repeal the [[National Bank Act]]. The team was elected by a landslide and the Republican era was nearly over.<ref>Parrish, ''Missouri'' (1973) 3:280-90.</ref>

In May 1875 delegates drafted a conservative constitution to replace the Radical one of 1865. The majority of the delegates were conservative, well-educated, and generally had ties to the South. 35 of the 68 delegates either served with the Confederacy or were allied to its cause; the presiding officer, [[Waldo P. Johnson]], had been expelled from the U.S. Senate in 1862 after he joined the Confederacy. The new constitution was a reaction against the radicalism of the 1860s and 1870s, and it encouraged local control and a reduction in the powers of the state. It limited the ability of the state and local governments to tax, and reduced the restrictions on churches being able to own property. It required a two-thirds vote by citizens to authorize the issuance of local government bonds, and it restricted the ability of state legislators to craft legislation that would benefit their localities. The proposal was submitted for popular vote on August 2, 1875, and the constitution passed overwhelmingly.<ref>Parrish, ''Missouri'' (1973) 3:290-92</ref>

The "Southernization" of Missouri proceeded rapidly during the 1870s. Numerous memorials to the Confederacy and Confederate generals were erected around the state and there were calls to establish a veterans' home for disabled or indigent Confederate veterans as well as a Confederate cemetery. The Democrat-controlled state government presented a misleading image that Missouri had really been a Southern state all along instead of a Western or border state, even though over three times as many Missourians fought for the Union than fought for the Confederacy. In 1884, former Confederate general [[John S. Marmaduke]] was elected governor; he was also the nephew of the exiled Governor Claiborne.<ref>https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/bluebook/2005-2006/0011-0054.pdf</ref>