Daniel Dunklin - Governorship

Governorship

Daniel Dunklin rose to the state's highest office when he defeated John Bull of the Anti-Jacksonian Party 50.8-percent to 45.2-percent to become Missouri's fifth Governor. Dunklin hailed from the "Old guard" Jeffersonian school of politics. As such, he opposed the Second Bank of the United States, supported internal improvements at the state level, and opposed high tariffs on states' rights grounds. Like Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and other Jacksonian Democrats, Dunklin favored hard-money currency. As governor, he also controlled a network of political patronage at the state capitol in Jefferson City. Under the patronage system, newspaper editors and other men of middling means could pledge their loyalty to the party by writing favorable editorials, endorsing candidates, organizing political meetings, and galvanizing voters. Governors and other party leaders could then reward editors by hiring them to run postal routes, providing them with subscribers, or by doling out lucrative printing contracts. Calvin Gunn and John Steele were two editors that received contracts from Dunklin for printing legislative debates at the state capitol.

In 1833 one of Dunklin's earliest acts as Governor was to appoint a commission on education. This three member body would determine the needs of the state and draw up a plan for public education facilities. The commissions report was presented to the Governor in 1834 and through his efforts its recommendations were approved by the legislature the next year. Effectively establishing a state board of education, standards, and a means of funding, it placed Missouri among the forefront in educating its citizens, outshining even some long-established eastern states. Governor Dunklin also laid the groundwork for the establishment of the University of Missouri when, in 1834, he recommended land sales to fund a state university and a site be chosen for its construction. During his tenure Missouri's debt was significantly reduced and nine new counties were added. Dunklin also oversaw the construction of the Missouri State Penitentiary during his time in office and pushed for less corporal punishment in the state's penal system.