In 1857，the U．S．Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott Decision that slaves were considered property．This historic decision increased tension（紧张（状态），不安）between the North and the South．Kansas，located on Missouri’s western border，became a free state in 1861．Fighting between Kansas and Missouri began and continued into the Civil War．
During the Civil War most Missourians remained loyal to the federal government．In 1861，a convention was called to determine whether Missouri would secede（正式脱离或退出，分离）from the Union．Although the majority voted to support the Union，Governor Claiborne Jackson refused to send troops at the request of President Lincoln．Jackson led the state militia（民兵）against Union troops at the Battle of Boonville．Jackson’s militia was forced to southern Missouri where they defeated Union troops at Wilson’Creek．Shortly after，the state convention met again to remove all pro－Confederate state leaders from office．
The coming of the railroads brought the eventual decay（衰减）of many of Missouri’s river towns and tied the state more closely to the East and North．St．Louis and Kansas City became important railroad centers．Outlaws held up banks，stagecoaches（公共马车），and trains．Jesse James terrorized the state for over 20years until he was killed by one of his own gang in 1882．Urbanization（都市化）and industrialization（工业化，产业化）progressed，and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition，held at St．Louis in 1904，dramatically revealed Missouri’s economic growth．The following year laws were passed that required inspection of working conditions and regulation of child labor and public utilities in Missouri．
Although during World War I，general prosperity prevailed（获胜，成功）in the state．Missouri’s industries expanded to help supply war materials．John Pershing of Linn County was named commander in chief of the U．S．forces in France．The Great Depression（〈美〉大萧条）（1929—1939）caused more than 200，000Missourians to lose their jobs and some to lose their land．The federal government established programs to help bring employment to Missouri．
World War II（1939—1945）also revived（复兴）the economy as factories again opened to provide war materials and both St．Louis and Kansas City served as vital transportation centers，and industrialization increased enormously（非常地，巨大地）．In the postwar period，Missouri became the second largest producer（behind Michigan）of automobiles in the nation．Although most industry remains based in the two metropolitan（大城市）centers，smaller Missouri communities，especially suburbs，have since attracted much light and heavy industry，as well as former city dwellers（居民）．St．Louis lost half its population between 1950to 1990，and out－migration has continued；what was once the fourth largest U．S．city is now barely in the top 50in size．
New industries moved to Missouri during the 1950s．A uranium－processing plant opened in Weldon Spring，electronic plants were built in Joplin，and factories in St．Louis and Neosho began producing parts for spacecrafts（太空船）．Economic growth continued through the 1960s．State leaders encouraged tourism and the expansion of mining throughout the state．
Missouri encountered（遭遇）serious pollution problems in the early 1980s．Contamination（污染）threatened ground water supplies and poisonous（有毒的）substances were discovered in Times Beach．The federal government is striving to help Missouri clean these areas．As urban problems became serious，St．Louis and Kansas City rebuilt their riverfronts［（城镇的）河边地区，河边陆地］．Missouri was also faced with financial problems．In 1986，a state lottery was established to help with education，welfare，and environmental programs．
Today in spite of these difficulties，Missouri continues to grow and the economy remains strong．
Governor州长
在2004年11月2日Matt Blunt被选举为密苏里州第54任州长。Blunt1970年11月20日出生于密苏里州的Springfield。他在Strafford公立学校上学，毕业于Jefferson城高中，并提前进入马里兰安纳波利斯的美国海军军官学校深造。
Matt Blunt，Missouri’s 54th governor was elected on November 2，2004，carrying 101of Missouri’s 114counties．
Governor Blunt was born November 20，1970in Springfield，Missouri．He attended public schools in Strafford，and graduated from Jefferson City High School prior to entering the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis，Maryland．
Prior to his election as governor，Matt Blunt served as an active duty Naval Officer（海军军官），as a member of the Missouri General Assembly（District 139）and as Missouri’s 37th Secretary of State．
Governor Blunt graduated from the Naval Academy in May 1993with a bachelor of science degree in history．He went on to serve as an Engineering Officer aboard the USS JACK WILLIAMS（FFG－24）and as the Navigator and Administrative Officer on the USS PETERSON（DD－969）．
Governor Blunt’s active duty service included participation in Operation Support Democracy，involving the United Nations blockade（封锁）of Haiti，missions to interdict（阻断）drug traffic off the South American coast，and on duties involved in the interdiction of Cuban migrants in 1994．
During his Naval career，Governor Blunt received numerous commendations（荣誉；奖状），including four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals．
Governor Blunt is the only statewide official in Missouri history called to active military duty in wartime，serving for six months in Operation Enduring Freedom，America’s response to the terrorist attacks of September 11，2001．He is currently serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserves．
Governor Blunt campaigned on a platform pledging（保证）to make education the state’s top policy priority，to reform the state’s social welfare programs，to address Missouri’s health care crisis，to improve Missouri’s entrepreneurial climate and to protect working families by holding the line on job－killing taxes．
The Governor made good on several of those promises within his first 100days in office．