On this date in Missouri history, legislators pass a bill which reads, “all free persons of color had to apply for a freedom license.” That law meant that not only did African Americans have to apply for freedom, but they also had to prove they met the requirements to be free, which was nearly impossible.
Since Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not cover Missouri, the state’s Constitutional Convention voted on this day to abolish slavery in Missouri. Missouri was the first former slave state to do so.
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