Kansas Territory Changes
The
Territory of Kansas was an organized
incorporated territory of the United States that existed from
May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of
the territory was admitted to the Union
as the
State of
Kansas
.
The
territory extended from the Missouri
border west
to the summit of the Rocky Mountains
and from the 37th parallel north
north to the 40th parallel
north. Much of the eastern region of what is now the
State of
Colorado
was part of Kansas Territory. The
Territory of Colorado was created to
govern this western region of the former Kansas Territory on
February 28, 1861.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas Territory was established by the
Kansas-Nebraska Act.
The Kansas-Nebraska
Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing the Nebraska
Territory
and Kansas Territory. The most momentous
provision of the Act in effect repealed the
Missouri Compromise of
1820 and allowed the settlers of Kansas Territory to
determine by popular sovereignty whether Kansas would be a
free state or a
slave
state.
The Act contained thirty-seven sections. The provisions relating to
Kansas Territory were embodied in the last eighteen sections. Some
of the more notable sections were:
- ;Section 19
- :Defines the boundaries of the Territory, gives it the name of
Kansas, and prescribes that "when admitted as a State or States,
the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received
into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitution may
prescribe at the time of their admission." It further provides for
its future division into two or more Territories, and the attaching
of any portion thereof to any other State or Territory; and for the
holding inviolable the rights of all Indian tribes till such time
as they shall be extinguished by treaty.
- ;Section 28
- :Declares the Fugitive
Slave Law of 1850 to be in full force in the Territory.
- ;Section 31
- :Locates the seat of government of the
Territory, temporarily at Fort Leavenworth
, and authorizes the use for public purposes of the
government buildings.
- ;Section 37
- :Declares all treaties, laws and other engagements made by the United States Government, with the
Indian tribes inhabiting the Territory,
to remain inviolate, notwithstanding anything contained in the
provisions of this act.
Eastern Emigration
Pro-slavery settlers
Within a few days after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act,
hundreds of Missourians crossed into the adjacent territory,
selected a section of land, and then united with fellow-adventurers
in a meeting or meetings, intending to establish a pro-slavery
preemption upon all this
region.
As early
as June 10, 1854, the Missourians held a meeting at Salt Creek Valley, a trading post three
miles west from Fort Leavenworth
, at which a "Squatter's Claim Association" was
organized. They said they were in favor of making Kansas a
slave state if it should require half the citizens of Missouri,
musket in hand, to emigrate there.
According to these emigrants, abolitionists would do well not to stop in
Kansas Territory, but keep on up the Missouri River until they
reach Nebraska
Territory, which was anticipated to be a free state.
Before the first arrival of Free-State emigrants from the northern
and eastern States, nearly every desirable location along the
Missouri River had been claimed by men from western Missouri, by
virtue of the
preemption
laws.
Free-Staters
During the long
debate that preceded the
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, it had become the settled
opinion at the North that the only remaining means whereby the
territory might yet be rescued from the grasp of the slave power,
was in its immediate occupancy and settlement by anti-slavery
emigrants from the free states in sufficient numbers to establish
free institutions within its borders. The desire to facilitate the
colonization of the Territory took practical shape while the bill
was still under debate in the
United States Congress. The largest
organization created for this purpose was the
New England Emigrant Aid
Company, organized by
Eli
Thayer.
Emigration from the free states, including New
England, Iowa
, Ohio
, and other
Midwestern states, flowed into the territory beginning in
1854. These emigrants were known as
Free-Staters.
Because Missourians had claimed much of
the land closest to the border, the Free-Staters were forced to
establish settlements further into Kansas Territory, as at Lawrence
(the first established), Topeka
, and
Manhattan
.
To protect themselves against the encroachments of non-residents,
the "Actual Settlers' Association of Kansas Territory" was formed.
This association held a meeting on August 12, 1854, the object
being the adoption of some
regulations
that should afford protection to the Free-State
settlers, under laws not unlike those adopted by the
pro-slavery
squatters in the border region
east.
First Territorial Appointments
The first territorial appointments, looking to the inauguration of
a
local government, under the
provisions of the organic law, were made in June and July,
1854. The officers appointed by
President Pierce, whose appointments were
confirmed by the
United States
Senate, and who entered upon the duties of their officer.
The first
governor was Andrew Horatio
Reeder (of Easton, Pennsylvania
) was appointed June 29, 1854. (Later, a
letter of dismissal of July 28, 1858 removed Governor Reeder from
office. His removal was officially announced
July 31, and on
August 16
Governor Reeder notified the Legislature of his removal.)
Election of Territorial Legislature
On March 30, 1855 "
Border Ruffians"
from Missouri invaded Kansas during the territory's first
legislative election and forced the election of a pro-slavery
Territorial Legislature. The general facts concerning the Missouri
invasion of the ballot boxes at the election were known throughout
Kansas from the day after the
election. The
Pro-slavery residents, with their allies over the Missouri border,
considered it a fair victory, fairly won. The Missourians had gone
over to the various precincts in Kansas in overwhelming numbers,
and elected a Pro-slavery Legislature.
Antislavery
candidates prevailed in only one election district, in the future
Riley County, where Manhattan had just been situated.
The first
session of the legislature was actually held in Pawnee,
Kansas
(near modern-day Ft.
Riley) at the request of Governor Reeder. The
two-story stone legislature building still stands to this day as
the first Territorial Capitol of Kansas. The building remained as
the seat for the legislature for only five days, from July 2-6,
1855, as the proslavery forces voted to move east to be nearer to
Missouri, with the next session to be held at the Shawnee Methodist
Mission.
[53354]
Bleeding Kansas
James H. Lane became involved in the Free-State
movement in Kansas in 1855. He was often called the leader of
"
Jayhawkers" movement in Kansas. The first
Free-state convention was held in Lawrence on the evening of June
8, 1855, in response to a call signed "Sundry Citizens," "
for
the purpose of considering matters of general interest to the
Territory." Whereas they stated, certain persons from the
neighboring State of Missouri have, from time to time, made
irruptions into this territory, and have fraud and force driven
from and overpowered our people at the ballot-box, and have forced
upon us a Legislature which does not represent the opinions of the
legal voters of this Territory. Many of its members not being even
residents of this Territory, but having their homes in the State of
Missouri.
These people used violence toward the persons and property of the
inhabitants of the territory. The convention resolved in favor of
making Kansas a free Territory, and as a consequence, a free State;
the convention looked upon the conduct of a portion of the people
of Missouri in the late Kansas election as a gross outrage on the
elective franchise and rights of
freemen and a violation of the principles
of popular sovereignty. The convention members did not feel bound
to obey any law of illegitimate legislature enacted and opposed the
establishment of slavery. The convention reserved the right to
invoke the aid of the General Government against the lawless course
of the slavery propaganda with reference to the Territory.
There was held in the public hall in Lawrence a "Ratification
Convention." It was a general ratification of all that had been
done and showed most conclusively that thereafter there was a
united force in Kansas pledged to
freedom which no opposing powers could
intimidate nor inward dissensions divide.
See also
References
External links
that
encompassed land that would later become part of the Territory of
Kansas:
that
encompassed land that would later become part of the Territory of
Kansas:
that
encompassed land that would later become part of the Territory of
Kansas:
, 1876
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Search
