Austin Augustus King (D)

Overview

At a Glance

• Signed Jackson Resolutions (1849)
• Vetoed fugitive slave law (1849)
• Secured passage of laws creating the Missouri School for the Deaf and the Missouri School for the Blind (both in 1851)

Personal History

Born on Sept. 21, 1802, in Sullivan County, Tennessee, Austin Augustus King attended local common schools and studied law by working in a country law office. Admitted to the bar in 1822, King practiced law in Tennessee until 1830, when he moved to Columbia, Missouri; formed a partnership with John B. Gordon; and became involved in Democratic politics. King married Nancy Harris Roberts in 1827, and they had eight children.

During King’s first years in Missouri, he rode the circuit, representing clients before Judge David Todd's court. Two years after moving to the state, King served Missouri’s militia as colonel of the 1st Regiment, 3rd Division, during the Black Hawk War; he served in Illinois, where he met a young captain of the Illinois militia named Abraham Lincoln. Back in Missouri, King served as judge advocate in the court martial of Gen. Benjamin Mean, commander of the 7th Brigade, 7th Division, of the state’s militia. Mean was indicted for mutiny and disobedience of orders.

In Missouri, King advocated for education. He supported the establishment of Christian Female College (renamed Columbia College), the Columbia Female Academy (renamed Stephens College), and Richmond College. He also served as a school board member of Ray County. As a state legislator, King introduced resolutions to establish a seminary of learning to instruct teachers working in common schools.

Several years after King left the governor’s office in 1853, his first wife died, and on Aug. 10, 1858, he married his second wife, Martha Anthony Woodson. King returned to St. Louis after his political career ended, and he practiced law until his death on April 22, 1870. He was buried in Richmond, Missouri.

Political History

King enjoyed a long and distinguished legal and political career. He served two terms as Boone County's representative to the General Assembly (1834 and 1836); became the first circuit judge in Caldwell County in 1837; governed Missouri from 1848 to 1853; and represented Missouri as a U.S. congressman from 1863 to 1865.

A year after King became a circuit judge, armed bands of Missourians and Mormons clashed in the northwestern part of the state. Gov. Lilburn Boggs sent in the state militia under the command of Maj. Gen. Samuel Lucas, and soldiers surrounded Mormon forces at Far West, Missouri, forcing them to surrender. More than 50 men were charged with crimes, including treason and murder, and were brought before Judge King. Ten of the prisoners were held over for trial; the rest were given an unconditional release, or they had to post bond.

During his years as a circuit judge, King was active in Democratic politics, supporting Martin Van Buren for president in 1840. During the 1844 gubernatorial convention in Missouri, he lost the nomination to John Cummins Edwards. In 1848, however, King received the gubernatorial nomination in large part because he had avoided the factionalism of the 1844 state convention. His candidacy brought together different factions of the Democratic Party, enabling him to defeat the Whig candidate, James Sidney Rollins.

After his term as governor, King ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress in 1852 and 1854. Over the next few years, he opposed the actions of Missourians who crossed into Kansas to vote illegally on the Lecompton Constitution, which would have allowed slavery in Kansas. At the Democratic National Convention in 1860, King supported Stephen A. Douglas for president, believing that Douglas’s election would preserve the Union. At the convention, King participated in the debates, and although he was sympathetic to the South, he denounced secession.

In 1862, King finally was elected to Congress, In February 1865, he voted for the 13th amendment, which abolished slavery even though his district was overwhelmingly pro-slavery. He served one term in Congress.

Historical Significance

During the 1848 campaign, King's opponent, James Sidney Rollins accused the Democrats of moving too slowly to aid private companies working on internal improvements, such as roads, canals, and railroads. In response, King said the Democratic Party had avoided a large public debt that might have harmed the state's credit. Despite King’s fiscally conservative stance, 142 private infrastructure companies received charters during the 1848–1849 legislative session; by comparison, only 32 companies had received charters during the previous session.

King supported many endeavors in Missouri. In 1850, Gov. King recommended using state credit to help finance railroad construction; the state issued $3.5 million in state bonds to two railroads: the Hannibal-St. Joseph Railroad and the Pacific Railroad Company. Working with the legislature, King also advocated for commerce, factories, road-building projects, drainage of swampland, and a geological survey of the southeastern and southwestern portions of the state.

Although King was a lifelong slave owner, he took contradictory positions on slavery. Case in point: while governor, he signed the pro-Southern Jackson Resolutions, which asserted that Congress could not limit slavery in U.S. territories, among other provisions. However, he vetoed a fugitive slave law, saying it was unconstitutional for a state to have such a law.

Gov. King was a strong advocate for education, having supported what are now Columbia College and Stephens College. His passion for education was clear in his efforts—though unsuccessful—to create a state department of education.

Gov. King signed legislation that created schools for visually and hearing-impaired young Missourians. The Missouri School for the Deaf in Fulton is the oldest state-supported school of its kind west of the Mississippi River; it educates Missouri's hearing-impaired children free of charge from kindergarten through 12th grade. When the Missouri Institution for the Education of the Blind (now the Missouri School for the Blind) opened in St. Louis, the state agreed to contribute $3,000 a year for five years and then evaluate the program. Before long, the founders could no longer support the school, and the state legislature took over operations. Today, the Missouri School for the Blind serves visually impaired Missourians from ages 5 to 21 at no cost.