Kansas Admitted to the Union
Kansas was admitted to the Union as the 34th state on January 29, 1861, a significant event in American history that marked the culmination of intense conflict over the issue of slavery. The territory's journey began with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed settlers to determine if Kansas would be a free or slave state, leading to violent confrontations known as "Bleeding Kansas." This period was characterized by fierce political and social strife as both proslavery and antislavery factions vied for control, resulting in a series of violent clashes and political maneuvering.
Settlers from both sides flooded the territory, significantly impacting its governance and societal structure. The struggle for control was highlighted by contested elections and the eventual creation of rival governments, with antislavery advocates ultimately establishing a successful constitution. Despite attempts to impose proslavery governance through measures like the Lecompton Constitution, Kansas voters consistently rejected these efforts, culminating in the adoption of the Wyandotte Constitution in 1859, which prohibited slavery.
Kansas's admission as a free state occurred at a critical juncture in American history, coinciding with the onset of the Civil War, and it reflected the broader national tensions surrounding slavery and states' rights. The legacy of Kansas's turbulent path to statehood continues to be a topic of interest, illustrating the complexities of American democracy and the struggles for civil rights that shaped the nation.
Kansas Admitted to the Union
Kansas Admitted to the Union
The admission of Kansas to the Union as the 34th state on January 29, 1861, brought to a close one of the most important chapters of American history. That chapter had begun seven years earlier when Kansas was organized as a territory under the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act passed by Congress on May 30, 1854.
The repercussions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened the way for the extension of slavery to the West, were widespread. Debate over the act intensified pro- and antislavery sentiments across the country, making slavery the most inflammatory issue in the land. Passage of the measure inaugurated an era of bloodshed in Kansas that in some ways foreshadowed the Civil War. Politically there were repercussions too, for opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act cut across party lines and led to the formation of the new Republican Party by antislavery Whigs and Democrats and members of some other groups, including the Free-Soil Party, which opposed the extension of slavery.
The history of Kansas began when most of what is now Kansas came into American possession through the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The rest of Kansas came into American possession after the Mexican War, which ended in defeat for Mexico and a massive transfer of Mexican territory to the United States that included much of the Midwest and Southwest. Sections of Kansas were designated as Indian territory by the U.S. government. From 1835 until 1850, part of Kansas was also claimed by Texas, a claim that ended when Texas ceased to be an independent nation and joined the United States as a state. Kansas itself was organized as a state in 1861.
The prelude to statehood began in 1804, when Lewis and Clark passed through Kansas on their famous voyage of exploration and discovery through the Louisiana Purchase. The vast prairies subsequently were crossed and recrossed by such explorers as Zebulon M. Pike, John C. Frémont, and Stephen H. Long, who dismissed the whole area now known as the nation's wheat belt as “uninhabitable by a people depending on agriculture.” Beginning in 1821, the Santa Fe Trail stretched across the entire length of Kansas. Westward migration through the region continued in the 1830s, and in the 1840s the Oregon Trail carried thousands of Pacific-bound emigrants across the northeastern corner.
However, these were all people with destinations farther west. Actual settlement in the Kansas area began when a group of Presbyterians founded the first Kansas mission in 1824. This was followed by the establishment of Fort Leavenworth in 1827, Fort Scott in 1842, and Fort Riley in 1853. Large numbers of permanent settlers did not pour in, however, until Kansas was officially designated a territory by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, signed into law by President Franklin Pierce on May 30, 1854.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act provided that the residents of the territory that now constitutes the modern states of Kansas and Nebraska would decide for themselves whether they would become free states without slavery, or slave states. It was a North versus South issue in the years leading up to the Civil War: Northern states were free states; Southern states were slave states; and both North and South wanted new states joining the Union to be on their side. Previously, the Missouri Compromise had established an imaginary line running across the country, north of which new states became free states and south of which new states became slave states. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, however, repealed the Missouri Compromise and in effect left it to the settlers to literally fight it out for themselves. Nebraska, which borders Kansas on the north, was far enough north that it was fairly certain to enter the Union as a free state. Kansas, on the other hand, is almost dead center in the United States geographically. Settlers and sympathizers from both sides flooded to Kansas, determined to use any means, peaceful and otherwise, to have Kansas come into the Union on their side.
The conflicts between the two sides often turned violent, earning Kansas the nickname “bleeding Kansas.” Antislavery newcomers settled in Lawrence, Topeka, and Osawatomie. Advocates of slavery founded Leavenworth, Atchison, and Lecompton. On March 30, 1855, an election for a territorial legislature was held, and 5,427 proslavery votes were cast out of a total of 6,307, which was rather suspicious since there were only 2,905 legal voters in the territory. The discrepancy was accounted for by proslavery Missourians who had crossed the border to stuff the ballot boxes and intimidate voters. Territorial governor A. H. Reeder set aside the election in six of the districts and ordered a new election that resulted in victory for the antislavery candidates.
Proslavery advocates, however, were able to seize effective control of the first territorial legislature that met at Pawnee, Kansas, on July 2, 1855. This majority expelled the members chosen at the second election ordered by the governor, and passed acts making it a capital offense to assist slaves in escaping either to or from the territory and a felony to circulate antislavery publications or to challenge the right to hold slaves. Not content with this, the legislature also required all voters to swear to support the Fugitive Slave Law, and eventually secured Governor Reeder's removal from office.
Antislavery advocates refused to recognize the legality of the territorial government and in a convention held at Topeka between October 23 and November 11, 1855, they adopted a constitution prohibiting slavery after July 4, 1857, and excluding blacks from Kansas. After their constitution was adopted at a December election, the Free-Soil, or abolitionist, contingent went on to choose state officers and a legislature and set up a rival government in January 1856.
Although the abolitionists wished to avoid armed conflict, violence came when a sheriff of the proslavery government was shot at Lawrence while trying to seize a prisoner. Antislavery leaders were indicted for treason and imprisoned, and on May 21, 1856, a proslavery mob sacked Lawrence. Three days later, the fiery abolitionist John Brown and his sons retaliated by killing five pro-slavery men at Pottawatomie Creek. Civil war between the two factions began, and continued throughout the month of June until federal troops intervened and restored order.
The Free-Soil legislature met at Topeka on July 4, 1856. Dispersed by federal troops, it made another attempt to meet on January 6, 1857, but its members were arrested. Robert J. Walker, who by then had become governor of the territory (the sixth in a rapidly changing series of governors), succeeded in arranging a compromise with the Free-Soilers, who agreed to take part in another election for a territorial legislature in October 1857.
Although the abolitionists won the election, the pro-slavery party meanwhile had called a convention to meet in Lecompton, where they adopted the proslavery Lecompton Constitution on November 7, 1857. Declaring that the right of slaveholders in Kansas to own slaves was inviolable, this constitution prohibited the legislature from passing any act of emancipation or preventing the importation of slaves. Then, on December 21, 1857, the people of the territory were called upon to decide whether they would have a constitution with slavery (i.e., with the Lecompton provisions) or without.
The proslavery vote was 6,226, more than half of which was polled along the Missouri border, where there were not more than 1,000 qualified voters. Since the great body of antislavery partisans regarded the election as farcical and refrained from voting, the opposition vote was only 569. Following this, the entire Lecompton Constitution was submitted to the voters by the territorial legislature on January 4, 1858, with 10,226 votes cast against the measure and less than 200 for it. The issue was then taken to Congress, where the Senate ignored the verdict of territory residents and voted to admit Kansas as a state with the Lecompton Constitution. The House of Representatives rejected this bill, however, instead passing legislation that put the Lecompton Constitution to another referendum by Kansas voters.
In a ringing defeat for the proslavery forces, Kansas voters once again rejected the Lecompton Constitution, finally ending the struggle to establish slavery in Kansas. The antislavery Wyandotte Constitution was subsequently adopted by Kansas voters on October 4, 1859. Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861, just as the Civil War was beginning.