Editing Champ Clark (section)

===Politics===
[[File:Clark, Hon. Champ Crop.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait by [[C. M. Bell]] {{circa}} 1893–1894]]
Clark was a member of the [[Missouri House of Representatives]] in 1889 and 1891.<ref name="Clark, James Beauchamp Champ"/> Clark was elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]] in 1892. After a surprise loss in 1894 to [[William M. Treloar]], he regained the seat in 1896, and remained in the House until his death, the day before he was to leave office.

Clark ran for [[Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives|House Minority Leader]] in 1903 but was defeated by [[John Sharp Williams]] of Mississippi. After Williams ran for the Senate in 1908, Clark ran again for the position and won. When the Democrats won control of the House in 1911, Clark became [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker]].<ref name="house_gov">{{cite web |title=CLARK, James Beauchamp (Champ) |url=https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/11000 |website=house.gov}}</ref>

====Canadian reciprocity treaty====
{{Main|1911 Canadian federal election|Reciprocity (Canadian politics)}}
In 1911, Clark gave a speech that helped to decide the [[1911 Canadian federal election|election in Canada]]. On the floor of the House, Clark argued for the recent [[Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty#Aftermath|Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1911]] and declared: "I look forward to the time when the American flag will fly over every square foot of British North America up to the North Pole."<ref>Allan, Chantal ''Bomb Canada: And Other Unkind Remarks in the American Media'' Athabasca: Athabasca University Press, 2009 p. 17.</ref>

Clark went on to suggest in his speech that the treaty was the first step towards the end of Canada, a speech that was greeted with "prolonged applause" according to the ''[[Congressional Record]]''.<ref name="Allan, page 18">Allan, ''Bomb Canada: And Other Unkind Remarks in the American Media'' page 18.</ref> The ''Washington Post'' reported, "Evidently, then, the Democrats generally approved of Mr. Clark's annexation sentiments and voted for the reciprocity bill because, among other things, it improves the prospect of annexation."<ref name="Allan, page 18"/>

The ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' condemned Clark in an editorial, predicting that Clark's speech might have fatally damaged the treaty in Canada; "He lets his imagination run wild like a Missouri mule on a rampage. Remarks about the absorption of one country by another grate harshly on the ears of the smaller."<ref name="Allan, page 18"/> The [[Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942)|Conservative Party of Canada]], which opposed the treaty, won the Canadian election in large part because of Clark's speech.

====Later career====
In 1912, Clark was the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, coming into [[1912 Democratic National Convention|the convention]] with a majority of delegates pledged to him, but he failed to receive the necessary two-thirds of the vote on the first several ballots. After lengthy negotiation, clever management by supporters of [[New Jersey]] Governor [[Woodrow Wilson]], with widespread allegations of influence by special interests, delivered the nomination instead to Wilson.

Clark's speakership was notable for his skill from 1910 to 1914 in maintaining party unity to block [[William Howard Taft]]'s legislation and then pass Wilson's. Clark split the party in 1917 and 1918, when he opposed Wilson's decision to bring the United States into [[World War I]].

In addition, Clark opposed the [[Federal Reserve Act]], which concentrated financial power in the hands of eastern banks (mostly centered in [[New York City]]). Clark's opposition to the Federal Reserve Act is said to be the reason that Missouri is the only state granted two [[Federal Reserve Banks]] (one in St. Louis and one in Kansas City).

Clark was defeated in the [[1920 U.S. House election|Republican landslide of 1920]] and died shortly thereafter in his home in [[Washington, D.C.]]

Champ Clark is the namesake of the small community of [[Champ, Audrain County, Missouri]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_audrain.html |title=Audrain County Place Names, 1928-1945 (archived) |publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri |access-date=30 August 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624070915/http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_audrain.html |archive-date=24 June 2016 }}</ref> The former [[Clark National Forest]] likewise was named after him.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_saint_francois.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624071518/http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_saint_francois.html | archive-date=June 24, 2016 | url-status=dead | title=St. Francois County Place Names, 1928–1945 | publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri | access-date=November 27, 2016 }}</ref>