John Richard Barret

John Richard Barret (August 21, 1825 – November 2, 1903) was a slave owner and U.S. Representative from Missouri. He was born in Greensburg, Green County, Kentucky, where he attended the common schools before pursuing higher education. As a young man he enrolled at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, a prominent institution in the region, receiving a classical education that prepared him for the study of law and public life.

In 1839 Barret moved with his family to St. Louis, Missouri, which was emerging as a major commercial and political center in the Mississippi Valley. He pursued legal studies there and graduated from the law department of Saint Louis University in 1843. After his admission to the bar, he commenced the practice of law in St. Louis. During these years he also became a slave owner, a status that placed him within the pro-slavery Democratic political establishment of Missouri in the antebellum period.

Barret entered public office in Missouri state politics in the early 1850s. He was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1852 and served four terms, participating in legislative affairs during a period marked by sectional tensions over slavery and westward expansion. In addition to his legislative work, he became identified with the St. Louis Agricultural Society, an important civic and economic organization, and took a leading role in organizing its exhibitions, which were intended to promote agricultural improvement and regional development.

In 1858 Barret sought national office and ran as a Democrat for the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri, challenging incumbent Republican Francis Preston Blair Jr. After defeating Blair in the election, he presented his credentials as a member-elect to the Thirty-sixth Congress. Blair, however, contested the result, alleging serious irregularities. Barret took his seat and served from March 4, 1859, to June 8, 1860, while the House investigated the contest. A House committee ultimately found that there had been significant election irregularities, including judges who had not taken the required oath, ineligible voters casting ballots, ballots for Blair that should have been counted but were not, and a difficult-to-explain increase in the number of voters in several precincts. On these grounds, the House declared Barret not entitled to the seat and seated Blair in his place.

Blair’s tenure following the contest was brief. Seventeen days after being declared entitled to the seat, he resigned on June 25, 1860, in order to trigger a special election and seek a fresh mandate from the voters. In the ensuing special election, Barret again stood as the Democratic candidate against Blair and was returned to Congress to fill the vacancy created by Blair’s resignation. Barret then served once more in the Thirty-sixth Congress, from December 3, 1860, to March 4, 1861, a critical period that encompassed the secession crisis following the election of Abraham Lincoln. In the general election of 1860 for the Thirty-seventh Congress, Blair again opposed Barret and this time defeated him, ending Barret’s brief and contentious congressional career.

After leaving Congress, Barret withdrew from Missouri politics and eventually relocated to New York City. There he engaged in various occupations over the subsequent decades, though the details of his business and professional activities are not extensively documented in public records. He remained in New York through the late nineteenth century. Barret died in New York City on November 2, 1903. His remains were returned to Kentucky, and he was interred in Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, bringing his life to a close in the state where he had been born.