Alexander McNair (D-R)

Overview

At a Glance

• Signed legislation designating the site of the state capitol building in Jefferson City (1821)
• Signed legislation to create the state seal (1822)

Personal History

Alexander McNair was born on May 5, 1775, in central Pennsylvania, the grandson of an Irish immigrant and the seventh child of David and Ann Dunning McNair. His father fought under Gen. George Washington in the Trenton and Princeton campaigns of the Revolutionary War and died in February 1777, from battle wounds and exposure to wintry weather. The future governor was less than 2 years old when his father died.

McNair attended one term at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania), and later joined the Pennsylvania militia. As a member of the militia, he fought opponents of a federal tax on distilled spirits during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791–1794.

The McNairs were Federalists actively involved in Pennsylvania politics and land speculation; as Federalists, they supported a strong central national government. The family made its living selling merchandise to settlements along the Ohio River. From 1801 to 1802, Alexander McNair traveled to Ohio and Kentucky to peddle wares, and the next year, he expressed an interest in securing a government contract to supply western U.S. military posts.

In 1804, McNair relocated to St. Louis, and he quickly became a champion of Spanish land claimants. His support for confirming Spanish land titles made him popular among St. Louis's influential French Creole leaders. McNair's marriage to Marguerite Reihle in 1805 further cemented his ties with the city's leading Creole families.

McNair took special interest in his militia duties. When the War of 1812 began, McNair was named adjutant and inspector general of the territorial militia with the rank of colonel. He commanded the territory’s 1st Regiment, and at war's end, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to urge federal officials to compensate unpaid territorial rangers and militiamen.

While en route to Washington, D.C., McNair stopped in Baltimore to purchase goods for his firm. Once in Washington, he lobbied U.S. officials for government contracts. He secured a contract to supply the military post at Prairie du Chien (now part of Wisconsin).

McNair served in Missouri’s Constitutional Convention and defeated William Clark to become Missouri’s first governor.

The economic downturn that followed the Panic of 1819 ruined McNair financially. After his term as governor, he accepted a U.S. government appointment as agent to the Osage tribe of Native Americans. While serving, he contracted influenza and died, leaving his family—including a 2-week-old baby, his 10th child—nearly destitute. McNair was buried in the Old Military Graveyard in St. Louis, but his body was later reinterred in Calvary Cemetery.

Political History

McNair’s service to Missouri began in the fall of 1804, when he accompanied Indiana's territorial governor, William Henry Harrison (who became the 9th U.S. president), to St. Louis. Harrison had been charged with establishing a new government for the Louisiana Territory. McNair decided to stay in St. Louis, and Gov. Harrison helped him secure appointments as both an adjutant in the Louisiana Territory’s militia and a justice on the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions. When St. Louis was incorporated, McNair became one of its five elected trustees. He helped reorganize the St. Louis Police Department, and in recognition for those efforts, he was named sheriff of St. Louis County in 1810.

McNair declined Pres. James Madison's nomination to serve as a commissioner charged with negotiating treaties with western Native American tribes. However, he did accept in 1816 an appointment to the newly created position of Federal Register of Lands in St. Louis, and he kept this post until he was elected governor in 1820.

As Register of Lands, McNair championed squatters' rights and supported the claims of newer American settlers. He also voiced his support for statehood and joined politician Thomas Hart Benton in condemning Congress for its delay in admitting Missouri into the Union. McNair won election to the 1820 Missouri Constitutional Convention on an anti-restrictionist platform that opposed placing limits on slavery. Missouri was admitted to the Union in 1821 as a slave state.

McNair played a relatively minor role in the convention's proceedings, but his positions on many issues placed him at odds with former political associates. By championing the interests of American settlers in Missouri's out-state regions, McNair positioned himself to run for governor.

Missouri's established leaders supported territorial governor William Clark to become the new state's first governor. McNair announced his intention to oppose Clark; the race for governor was a bitter contest. McNair appealed to rural voters throughout the state; he criticized members of the state constitutional convention for keeping its procedures secret and denounced some of the new constitution's components. Clark's supporters countered by questioning McNair's ability to hold such a high office, claiming that he had not contributed in the constitutional convention. McNair benefited from the new constitution's provision granting universal suffrage for white men, and with the support of out-state voters, he easily defeated Clark. McNair was elected governor in 1820, receiving 72% of the vote. A constitutional provision prohibited McNair from seeking reelection in 1824.

Historical Significance

He passed few pieces of legislation, but he did approve the creation of a state seal and the site of Missouri’s capitol building in Jefferson City. Today, these continue to be prominent parts of Missouri history and symbolism.

As governor, McNair recommended using federal land grants to support public schools.

McNair was the first of five consecutive governors to be considered Jeffersonian Republicans who believed in limited government. That is evident in McNair's hesitation to call for any legislative action on the state's depressed condition in 1821 and by the unilateral initiative of the state legislature to enact a series of laws intended to stimulate the economy.