The Lecompton Constitution gets adopted

There were four constitutions written in an attempt to gain statehood for Kansas. The second and most controversial of these constitutions was the Lecompton Constitution which came from the Lecompton Constitutional Convention of 1857. Lecompton was the territorial capital of Kansas at this time and became known as the Slave Capital due to the fact that the government established here was proslavery. The delegates of the convention intended to protect slavery in Kansas Territory. The proslavery legislature that convened at Lecompton was elected in 1855. The election was characterized by voter fraud perpetrated by proslavery Missourians who flooded over the border. However, despite this, a convention was held by Free-staters and they created the Topeka Constitution. Even though the legislature at Lecompton was elected through fraudulent means President Franklin Pierce supported it and denounced the Topeka Constitution. He also went as far as declaring the Topeka Government to be in rebellion. In May of 1856 Charles L. Robinson, who was elected Territorial Governor at the Topeka Convention, and other free staters were arrested for treason. They were held as prisoners of the proslavery legislature at Camp Sackett, which was located about 3.5 miles southwest of Lecompton until September 1856.

Siezing the moment, a group made up of mostly slave holding legislators quickly called for another convention to convene at Lecompton. Their intent was to draw up a constitution to protect the rights of slave owners. They met from October 19 to November 8, 1857. On November 7 the Lecompton Constitution was adopted. This constitution protected slavery and banned free African Americans from immigrating to the state[IB1] . It also gave no suffrage to women, African Americans or Native Americans. This convention was heavily boycotted by free-staters who also boycotted the election on December 21, 1857. The election was tainted by illegal voting practices carried out by proslavery Missourians who intimidated voters. Kansas voters passed the Lecompton Constitution at this election but rejected it at an election on January 4, 1858. A little less than a month later, on February 2, President James Buchanan submitted the Lecompton Constitution to Congress recommending its approval and the admittance of Kansas as a Slave State.

Four days later, a brawl erupted on the floor of the House of Representatives between Laurence Keitt of South Carolina and Galusha Grow of Pennsylvania over the Lecompton Constitution. During a heated debate over the Lecompton Constitution, Grow crossed over to the Democratic side of the chamber simply to confer with a colleague when Keitt called him a “black Republican puppy” and in turn Grow called Keitt a “negro driver”. The brawl ended only when Wisconsin Representative John Potter pulled the toupee from Mississippi Representative William Barksdale’s head which caused the floor to erupt in laughter. All of this occurred at roughly two o’clock in the morning.

On February 8, a House Coalition of Northern Republicans and Free Soilers narrowly blocked a referral of the Lecompton Constitution to the House Territories Committee. Over a month later, on March 23, the Senate approved the Lecompton Constitution and Kansas for Statehood. The House voted to resubmit the Lecompton Constitution to a popular vote in Kansas and on April 10 the House and Senate came to an agreement to admit Kansas to the Union as a Slave State if and only if the Lecompton Constitution won the popular vote. The election was held on August 2, 1858. In this fair and open election Kansas voters rejected the Lecompton Constitution by a vote of 11,812 to 1,926.

Two more constitutions would be drafted, the last of which would be the Wyandotte Constitution. It would be this constitution that would be approved and gain statehood for Kansas in January 1861. The legacy of the Lecompton Constitution is a unique one in that it started a fire storm across the country. It paralyzed Congress and rendered President Buchanan impotent. It splintered the Democratic Party into the antislavery northern and proslavery southern wings. This, in turn, guaranteed massive losses for the Democratic Party and catapulted an unknown Illinois politician and Republican Party into power during the 1860 election. The Lecompton Constitution also pushed the country closer to open warfare.

Today the location of the Lecompton Constitutional Convention is a historic landmark. Constitution Hall still stands in Lecompton and is now a museum dedicated to preserving the territorial history of the State of Kansas. There is a historical marker that details the history of Lecompton. The marker that is there today is a replacement erected sometime after the original was removed in April 1995. The marker is in two locations the first is off U.S. 40 just south of Lecompton and the other is at a Kansas Turnpike service area. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Lecompton and Constitution Hall are now pilgrimage sites for Civil War historians and History buffs alike from all over the world.