When was the lecompton constitution written

Garrison, Zach. The Kansas City Public Library. Skip to main content. The missouri-kansas conflict You are here Encyclopedia. By Zach Garrison , University of Cincinnati. Map Location Lecompton, Kansas. Encyclopedia Entry Lecompte, Samuel Dexter. Buchanan, James. Bogus Legislature. Lecompton Constitution Rejected by Voters. Democratic delegates also wanted the state's northern border extended to the Platte River.

Republicans united to defeat this effort. The old northern border was retained and the western border was fixed at degrees west longitude the 25th Meridian.

Kansas emerged from the convention with its present rectangular shape. There was some support among the male delegates for granting equal voting rights to Kansas women. The majority, however, would not accept this "radical" idea, and suffrage was granted only to "Every white male person, of twenty-one years and upward. Largely because of the efforts of Clarina Nichols, however, the Wyandotte Constitution included some rights for woman. Women were allowed to participate in school district elections and to own property.

The state legislature was to "provide for their equal rights in the possession of their children. Because they objected to several key provisions, all seventeen Democrats refused to sign. The subsequent campaign for ratification of the Wyandotte Constitution was a bitter partisan contest. On October 4, , supporters won by nearly a 2 to 1 margin, to 5, After the October vote, official copies of the proposed constitution were prepared and sent to the President of the United States, the president of the Senate, and the speaker of the House of Representatives.

The House acted first. A bill for Kansas's admission was introduced on February 12, Within two months, the congressmen voted to 73 to admit Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution. William H. Seward of New York introduced a separate bill in the Senate on February 21, A long-time champion of the free state cause in Kansas, Seward appealed for immediate action, but the admission bill was referred to committee and finally carried over to the next session.

With the election of Abraham Lincoln, southern states began to leave the Union and opposition to Kansas' admission decreased. The senators from South Carolina were the first to withdraw from Congress. Those from Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida followed them.

These last six senators left their seats on January 21, , and later that same day the Senate passed the Kansas bill. A week later the House passed the bill as amended and sent it to the president for his signature.

Ironically, it was President James Buchanan, a man despised by most free state settlers in Kansas, who signed the bill making Kansas the 34th state on January 29, The joy over the adoption of the Wyandotte Constitution and the imminent prospects for statehood where tempered somewhat in late and by a severe drought and famine. The January 29, , bill signing was clouded a bit by the prospects of a civil war on the national horizon.

Wyandotte Constitution. Check out this online exhibit that has information about the Four Different Constitutions. Here, again, a fair opportunity was presented to the adherents of the Topeka constitution, if they were the majority, to decide this exciting question "in their own way," and thus restore peace to the distracted Territory; but they again refused to exercise their right of popular sovereignty, and again suffered the election to pass by default.

The people of Kansas have, then, "in their own way," and in strict accordance with the organic act, framed a constitution and State government; have submitted the all-important question of slavery to the people, and have elected a governor, a member to represent them in Congress, members of the State legislature, and other State officers.

They now ask admission into the Union under this constitution, which is republican in its form. It is for Congress to decide whether they will admit or reject the State which has thus been created. For my own part, I am decidedly in favor of its admission, and thus terminating the Kansas question. This will carry out the great principle of non-intervention recognized and sanctioned by the organic act, which declares in express language in favor of "non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States or Territories," leaving "the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.

It is proper that I should briefly refer to the election held under an act of the territorial legislature, on the first Monday of January last, on the Lecompton constitution.

This election was held after the Territory had been prepared for admission into the Union as a sovereign State, and when or change its character. The election, which was peaceably conducted under my instructions, involved a strange inconsistency. A large majority of the persons who voted against the Lecompton constitution were at the very same time and place recognizing its valid existence in the most solemn and authentic manner, by voting under its provisions. I have yet received no official information of the result of this election.

After reading this document does it appear to you that President Buchanan believes people in the territory of Kansas, or any other territory for that matter, have the right to establish slavery of they want it? Why or why not? Using a map of the Missouri Compromise and a map of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, have students contrast the two so that they can see how much the country had grown and to analyze new developments in the map of in order to appreciate the urgency of the arguments advanced in the arguments over slavery.

Divide the students into two groups. Why were people all over the country talking about Kansas and the LeCompton Constitution? Why was it so important that Kansas enter the Union as either slave or free? Was President Buchanan really pro-slavery or was he just trying to keep the South happy and prevent a Civil War? If you were a settler in Kansas which is more important to you?

Arguing over slavery, or arguing over the right to choose if Kansas is slave or free? Illegal voting takes place. The majority of votes are cast for proslavery delegates. The majority of legal voters are free-state. The Lecompton Constitution is a pro-slavery document. If approved it would allow slavery in the state of Kansas. Both the proslavery constitutional convention and the free-state legislature claimed to have the authority to call for an election on the Lecompton Constitution.

Free-state voters refuse to vote in the first election. The Lecompton Constitution is approved. The constitution is sent to Congress for ratification.

The territorial legislature called for the second election. It gave people three choices: reject the entire constitution, approve the constitution with slavery, or approve the constitution with slavery allowed for only Kansasans who already owned slaves. Lecompton Constitution. Lesson Author. Larson, Steve. Course s. American History. Required Time Frame. Subject s.