Sowing the Whirlwind: Missouri and the Coming of the Civil War

7/8/2023 | Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site | Lawson, MO

Missouri’s application for statehood and admission to the Union placed Missourians at a confluence of political, racial and social issues that eventually tore the nation apart. In this presentation, historian and author William Garrett Piston will explore Missouri’s role in the famous compromises of 1820 and 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857, to examine how and why the Constitution and the American political system were unable meet the stresses accompanying the expansion of slavery into the west.

This presentation is sponsored by the Missouri Speakers Bureau. The Missouri Speaker Bureau is jointly organized and managed by Missouri Humanities and the State Historical Society of Missouri.

Presentation Time: 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Click here to read the news release.

Watkins Woolen Mill State Historic Site is located at:

26600 Park Road N., Lawson, MO | 816-580-3387

Associated activities

  • Interpretive Programs