Watkins Mill State Park will host a presentation on Missouri’s involvement in the legislation leading up to the Civil War from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 8.
Missouri’s application for statehood and admission to the Union placed Missourians at a confluence of political, racial, and social issues that eventually tore the nation apart. In this presentation, historian and author William Garrett Piston will explore Missouri’s role in the compromises of 1820 and 1850, along with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and the Dred Scott decision of 1857. Piston will give a glimpse into why the U.S. Constitution and the American political system were unable to meet the stresses accompanying the expansion of slavery into the West.
This presentation is sponsored by the Missouri Speakers Bureau. The Missouri Speaker Bureau is jointly organized and managed by Missouri Humanities and the State Historical Society of Missouri.
Watkins Mill State Park is located at 26600 Park Road N, Lawson. For more information, call 816-580-3387.
