Thursday, July 25, 2002

In 1861, House expelled 2 Missouri congressmen

By KEN NEWTON

While the U.S. House expelled one of its own on Wednesday, a historical rarity, Missouri owns the distinction of having at least two congressmen thrown out of the chamber by fellow members.

In 1861, the House voted out Reps. John B. Clark and John W. Reid, both Missourians.

Mr. Clark, a Democrat from Fayette, Mo., was elected to represent the state’s Third District in a special election in 1857. That district included some Northwest Missouri counties. He was re-elected in 1858 and 1860.

On July 13, 1861, House members declared that Mr. Clark had “taken up arms against the government of the United States,” holding a commission in Missouri militia under the state’s rebel governor. Fellow representatives said he “took part in the engagement at Boonville against the United States forces.”

By a vote of 88 to 57, the House members expelled him from the 37th Congress. Fellow Missourian Francis P. Blair Jr. submitted the motion.

Mr. Clark then became a senator in the first Confederate Congress and served as a brigadier general of Missouri’s rebel army. He practiced law in Fayette after the war and died in 1885.