[5] Following the war Daniel Dunklin traveled back to Kentucky for a short time so that he might marry his childhood sweetheart, Emily Willis "Pamela" Haley, on May 2, 1815.

Elected a member of the Missouri constitutional convention in 1820, Dunklin spent several years serving in the state government he helped create.

[5][6] In the 1832 election, Daniel Dunklin rose to the state's highest office when he defeated John Bull of the Anti-Jacksonian Party 50.8-percent to 45.2-percent to become Missouri's fifth Governor.

Under the patronage system, newspaper editors and other men of middling means could pledge their loyalty to the party by writing favorable editorials, endorsing candidates, organizing political meetings, and galvanizing voters.

Governors and other party leaders could then reward editors by hiring them to run postal routes, providing them with subscribers, or by doling out lucrative printing contracts.

Calvin Gunn and John Steele were two editors that received contracts from Dunklin for printing legislative debates at the state capitol.

Alarmed at the large influx of new residents and fearful of losing political influence, a series of vigilante incidents by non-Mormons led to the forced expulsion of the Mormon pilgrims to nearby Clay County, Missouri in 1833.

However Dunklin suggested that the Mormons seek redress to their issues in the court system., stating in an October 1833 letter "make a trial of the efficacy of the laws; the judge of your circuit is a conservator of the peace.

[12] The perception of a promise from Dunklin, to provide armed support from state troops (in restoring the Mormons to their lands in Jackson County), played a role in the plans of Zion's Camp.

[14] Governor Daniel Dunklin resigned his position in the summer of 1836, having been granted a Federal appointment by President Andrew Jackson as Surveyor General for Missouri and Illinois.

[5] Other than the aforementioned Arkansas border commission, Daniel Dunklin turned the remaining years of his life to his business and family matters.