John Brooks Henderson 1826-1912
John Brooks Henderson 1826-1912
Born in Virginia on November 16, 1826, John Brooks Henderson came of southern parentage. His father and mother moved to Missouri in 1832 and both died before John was ten years old. They left him small means with which to educate himself. He attended the common schools of Lincoln county, Missouri, and was a good student. He earned his first money teaching school, but his ambition was to be a lawyer.
At the outbreak of the Civil War he became a Republican and gave his services to the Union. He was elected to the Missouri State Convention in St. Louis in 1861 and was one of the leading Unionists in that body. He was appointed United States Senator in 1862 and was elected to that body from Missouri in 1863.
His career as a United States Senator, covering seven years, would fill a volume if all were written. His most conspicuous piece of legislation was the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery in this country. Senator Henderson wrote this amendment and introduced it in the United States Senate. He was also one of the advocates of the clause in the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which stated that the right to vote should not be denied on account of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude.
Perhaps his most unpopular act as a statesman was when he voted for the acquittal of President Andrew Johnson on the impeachment charges which had been preferred against him. Henderson voted for his acquittal and Johnson was not convicted. This act of Henderson’s cost him re-election to the United States Senate and ended his public career in Missouri. As the author of the Thirteenth Amendment alone his name will be remembered.
The book titled: EMANCIPATION AND HENDERSON details his life's story.
