| Territory of Kansas | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organized incorporated territory of United States | |||||||||||
| 1854–1861 | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Capital | Pawnee (provisional; July 2–6, 1855) Fort Leavenworth (provisional) Lecompton (1855–61) Lawrence (de facto, 1858–1861) | ||||||||||
| • Type | Organized incorporated territory | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| 30 May 1854 | |||||||||||
| 29 January 1861 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1860 | 107,206 | — |
| Source: 1860;[1] | ||
TheTerritory of Kansas was anorganized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854,[2] until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to theUnion as thefree state ofKansas. The territory extended from theMissouri border west to the summit of theRocky Mountains and from the37th parallel north to the40th parallel north. Originally part ofMissouri Territory, it was unorganized from 1821 to 1854. Much of the eastern region of what is now theState of Colorado was part of Kansas Territory. TheTerritory of Colorado was created to govern this western region of the former Kansas Territory on February 28, 1861.
The question of whether Kansas was to be a free or a slave state was, according to theCompromise of 1850 and theKansas–Nebraska Act, to be decided bypopular sovereignty, that is, by vote of the Kansans. The question of which Kansans were eligible to vote led to an armed-conflict period calledBleeding Kansas. Both pro-slavery and free-state partisans encouraged and sometimes financially supported emigration to Kansas, so as to influence the vote. During part of the territorial period there were two territorial legislatures, with two constitutions, meeting in two cities (one capital was burned by partisans of the other capital). Two applications for statehood, one free and one slave, were sent to the U.S. Congress. The departure of Southern legislators in January 1861 facilitated Kansas' entry as a free state, later the same month.
From June 4, 1812, until August 10, 1821, the area that would become Kansas Territory 33 years later was part of theMissouri Territory. When Missouri was granted statehood in 1821 the area became unorganized territory and contained little to no permanent white settlement with the exception ofFort Leavenworth. The Fort was established in 1827 byHenry Leavenworth with the3rd U.S. Infantry fromSt. Louis, Missouri; it is the first permanent European settlement in Kansas.[3] The fort was established as the westernmost outpost of the American military to protect trade along theSanta Fe Trail fromNative Americans. The trade came from the East, by land using theBoone's Lick Road, or by water via theMissouri River.[4] This area, called theBoonslick, was located due east in west-central Missouri and was settled by Upland Southerners from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee as early as 1812.[5] Its slave-holding population would contrast with settlers from New England who would eventually arrive in the 1850s.
The land that would become Kansas Territory was considered to be infertile by 19th century American pioneers.[6] It was called theGreat American Desert, for it lacked trees and was drier than land eastward. Technically, it was part of the vast grasslands that make up the North AmericanGreat Plains and supported giant herds ofAmerican bison. After the invention of the steel plow and more sophisticated irrigation methods the thick prairie soil would be broken for agriculture.[7] By the 1850s immigration pressure was increasing and organization into a Territory was desired.
Kansas Territory was established on May 30, 1854, by theKansas–Nebraska Act. This act established both theNebraska Territory and Kansas Territory. The most momentous provision of the Act in effect repealed theMissouri Compromise of 1820 and allowed the settlers of Kansas Territory to determine by popular sovereignty whether Kansas would be afree state or aslave 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:
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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-slaverypreemption upon all this region.
As early as June 10, 1854, the Missourians held a meeting at Salt Creek Valley, a trading post 3 miles (5 km) west fromFort 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 reachNebraska 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 thepreemption laws.
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 theUnited States Congress. The largest organization created for this purpose was theNew England Emigrant Aid Company, organized byEli Thayer.[8]
Emigration from the free states (includingIowa,Ohio, and other Midwestern and New England states), flowed into the territory beginning in 1854. These emigrants were known asFree-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. Among these wereLawrence,Topeka, andManhattan.
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-slaverysquatters in the border region east.
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 byPresident Pierce, whose appointments were confirmed by theUnited States Senate, and who entered upon the duties of their office. The first governor wasAndrew Horatio Reeder (ofEaston, Pennsylvania) was appointed June 29, 1854 and removed July 28, 1858.
On March 30, 1855, "Border Ruffians" from Missouri entered Kansas during the territory's first legislative election and voted in a pro-slavery Territorial Legislature. Antislavery candidates prevailed in one election district, the futureRiley County.
The first session of the legislature was held inPawnee, Kansas (within the boundary of modern-dayFort Riley), at the request ofGovernor Reeder. The two-story stone building still stands and is open to the public, as theFirst Territorial Capitol of Kansas. The building remained as the seat of the legislature for five days from July 2–6, 1855, then moved nearer Missouri to theShawnee Methodist Mission.[9]
In the election of 1857, free-staters out-voted the pro-slavery settlers in the Territory, which meant that the Territorial Legislature fell into free-state hands.[10] Then, on October 4, 1859, theWyandotte Constitution was approved in a referendum by a vote of 10,421 to 5,530, and after its approval by the U.S. Congress, Kansas was admitted as a free state on January 29, 1861,[11] shortly after the Southern legislators, who would never have permitted a new free state, had walked out. The last legislative act of the Territorial Legislature was the approval of the charter for theCollege of the Sisters of Bethany. This was February 2, 1861—four days afterJames Buchanan signed the act of Congress that officially brought Kansas into the Union.[12]
James H. Lane joined the Free-State movement in 1855 and became president of the Topeka Constitutional Convention, which met from October 23 to November 11, 1855. He was later a leader of "Jayhawkers." The first Free-state mass-meeting was in Lawrence on the evening of June 8, 1855; it was stated that persons from Missouri had invaded and had stolen elections to the legislature of the territory.
It was claimed that some Missourians had used violence toward the persons and property of the inhabitants of the Kansas Territory. It was agreed that Kansas should be a free State and that the stolen election was a gross outrage on the elective franchise and rights offreemen and a violation of the principles of popular sovereignty. Those attending 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 Federal government against the lawless course of the slavery propaganda in the territory.
