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The Revised Statutes Of The State Of Missouri: Revised And Digested By The Eighth General Assembly During The Years One Thousand Eight Hundred And ... : Together With The Constitutions Of
(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Austin Augustus King was an American lawyer and politician. He was the 10th Governor of Missouri from 1848 to 1853 and served as Member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 6th district from 1863 to 1865.
Background
Austin Augustus King was born on September 21, 1802 in Sullivan County, Tennessee, United States. His father was Walter King, an owner of iron mines; his mother, Nancy (Sevier) King, was the daughter of John Sevier, the Tennessee military and political leader.
Education
King's formal education was obtained under frontier conditions. He then studied law and took private lessons in Latin and Greek. He was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1822.
Career
Around 1822 King started to practice law in Jackson, Tennessee. In 1830 he moved to Missouri and settled in Columbia, where he entered immediately the civic and political life of central Missouri. An ardent Jacksonian Democrat, he was elected in 1834 and in 1836 to the legislature from Boone, a Whig county. Here he became a leader in the opposition to the use of state credit to finance internal improvements. In 1837 he was appointed by Governor Boggs to a circuit judgeship in northwestern Missouri. He served in this frontier judicial post for eleven years, riding the circuit and administering justice with common sense and good judgment. He presided in 1838 at the trial of the Mormon leaders, who accused him of bias and unfairness.
King's judicial duties did not prevent him from continuing his active interest in Democratic politics. He was an admirer and supporter of Senator Benton, submitting without question to the political absolutism of the Missouri leader, the most powerful figure in state politics. The state Democracy since the early forties had been torn by internal dissension, but the Benton faction was able to nominate King for governor in 1848. His views on national and state issues were those of a "pure and consistent Democrat", that is, he represented the Jacksonian rather than the Calhoun element. King was elected and entered the governorship just as the state was emerging from the pioneer stage and when the railroad question was foremost. The governor fully recognized this problem and was eager to proceed to its solution.
In 1852 and in 1854 King was defeated as a Benton Democrat in contests for Congress and for the legislature. He supported Douglas in 1860 and was instrumental in securing for him the vote of Missouri. As the storm approached, King, sympathetic toward the South, favored compromise and opposed armed force. He decided for the Union in 1861, however, and supported the provisional government in Missouri. The following year as a Union or War Democrat he was elected, after a turbulent canvass, to the Thirty-Eighth Congress. His chief concern was to support, against his Radical colleagues, the conservative régime in the state. He was one of the eleven Democrats who voted for the submission of the Thirteenth Amendment, two weeks after slavery in Missouri had been abolished. Because of his moderate views, King failed to be reelected in 1864 and the triumph of the Radical Republicans eliminated him from politics. His successful practice of law was terminated by death, in St. Louis, in 1870.
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Politics
King was a member of the Democratic Party. As a lifelong slave-owner, he was a strong advocate of the non-intervention doctrine for the territories. He was active in the reorganization of the Democratic party in 1868 and favored a temporary alliance in 1870 with the Liberal Republicans.
Connections
King was twice-married. He married Nancy Harris Roberts in Jackson, Tennessee, on May 13, 1828. She died in 1857. The following year, August 10, 1858, in Kingston, Missouri, he married Martha Anthony Woodson.