The First Governor of Missouri
- by George Bailey • Published: March 27, 2007
Alexander McNair was the first governor of Missouri. In the first election in 1820 he received 72% of the vote, defeating William Clark, the explorer who accompanied Meriwether Lewis on the historical Lewis and Clark Expedition. McNair was born in Pennsylvania. When his father died, he proposed that he and his brothers conduct a boxing match to determine who would receive the family estate. Alexander, the oldest of them, lost, which indirectly led to his move to what would become Missouri in 1804.
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