|1918 KANSAS AND KANSANS||The Lecompton Movement||Part 1|
By RALPH R. PRICE
The Kansas-Nebraska Bill gave to the new territory of Kansas more notoriety than any other territory that has ever been organized. The territorial struggle of "bleeding Kansas" kept the name prominently before the eyes of the nation. The bountiful crops of sunny Kansas have become known throughout the world. Prairie fires and blizzards, drouths and floods and grasshoppers, boom-times and hard-times have each in turn advertised Kansas. Kansas sent more soldiers to the Union army than she had voters when Sumter fell. A larger per cent of her citizens joined the Union army than of any other state or territory. After the Civil war, Kansas became distinctly the soldier state of the Union.
Kansans believe they are of a superior race - a select people. The Puritans sought the new world to gain privileges for themselves: but the Kansans were missionaries - crusaders who conquered both nature and the proslavery powers in order to give to the world a new, free commonwealth. Kansans feel that they have a reputation to uphold wherever they may go.
In short, Kansas has been more advertised than any other state that ever entered the Union. She also had more constitutions than any other territory that ever sought statehood. Verily her struggle "to the stars" was "through difficulties." The slave-holding interests regarded Kansas as the last possible chance they would ever have of gaining one more slave state to counterbalance California which had given to freedom a majority of one state in the United States Senate.
From many points of view, the most important phase of the struggle over the admission of Kansas to statehood was the contest waged both in Congress and in Kansas over the notorious Lecompton constitution. In order clearly to understand this Lecompton movement, we need to recall certain pertinent preceding facts in our national history.
We recall the acrimonious contest over the annexation of Texas; and when we note the significant fact that the admission of Texas gave the slave power a majority of two states in the United States Senate, together with the fact that Texas was the last slave-state ever admitted, we appreciate more clearly the reason for the contest over its admission. This was in 1845. Then came the admission of Iowa in 1846, and of Wisconsin in 1848. The two sections were now equally balanced. The admission of California in the Compromise of 1850 gave the free North a majority of one, for the first time since the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
Kansas was the next territory to apply for statehood. If admitted as a slave state, the balance in the United States Senate would be held equal, and the southern minority would here still have a check on what they chose to call "the tyranny of the [northern] majority." The South felt that they must have Kansas in order to protect themselves in the United States Senate. Moreover, the southern boundary of Kansas is farther south than any other free state, while the northern boundary of Kansas is almost identical with the original Mason and Dixon line. Hence, the South thought that Kansas should of right be theirs. On the other hand, Douglas believed that slavery would never flourish in Kansas sufficiently to make Kansas a slave state.
Kansas was organized as a territory by the famous Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which became law by the signature of President Franklin Pierce on May 30, 1854. Stephen A. Douglas is the one man who, more than any other, secured the passage of this bill. His home was in Chicago, Illinois. For years he had wished to convert the western Indian country into an organized territory in order to induce settlers to move into this promising region, and thus build up the great Northwest. More recently he had come to desire specifically to secure the organization of this territory in order to promote the building of a railroad from Chicago to the Pacific. The most important rival for this Pacific road was a group of shrewd southern men, of whom Jefferson Davis was a leader. These men wished a southern road, built in part at national expense. The promoters of this southern route had won a marked victory in securing the annexation of Texas in 1845. They won again in securing the organization of the Territory of New Mexico in 1850, together with the admission of California to statehood. The climax of their victories from the standpoint of their railroad scheme was the Gadsden Purchase, in 1853. Thus by 1854 they had secured a very desirable route through a region already organized into states and territories.
In order to secure the consideration of a railroad from Chicago west to the Pacific, Douglas must first transform into an organized territory the vast Nebraska region, now occupied by Indians, but through which his road was to be built. Moreover, since the Gadsden Purchase of 1853, it was evident that there was need of haste in organizing this northern territory or the southern road would soon be built. The chief opposition came from the South. This was partly because of the South's own railroad plans. Chiefly, however, the South opposed the organization of this northern Nebraska Territory because to organize this territory would be the first step toward the admission to statehood of a region forever devoted to freedom by the Missouri Compromise of 1820.
Certain southern statesmen, chief of whom were Jefferson Davis and Senator David R. Atchison, of Missouri, made it clear to Douglas that they would never agree to the organization of this Louisiana Territory north of 36° 30' unless the Missouri Compromise were repealed, and this territory opened to popular sovereignty. Now it happens that Senator Douglas thoroughly believed in the principle of popular sovereignty. He had a westerner's confidence in the ability of the people to decide their own questions for themselves. He believed this was a sound principle of popular, democratic government. As a matter of fact, he believed slavery to be forever excluded from Kansas by the law of nature, and in this events proved him to be right. Moreover, this was the very principle that had been applied in New Mexico and Utah, the last territories to be organized. In fact, Douglas had himself written the popular sovereignty clauses in the bills that organized these latest territories. He now incorporated the very same clause in the Kansas and Nebraska bills. The Compromise of 1850 had been quite universally accepted. It had allayed the slavery storm - had taken this vexatious slavery question out of national politics and had relegated it as a mere local issue to be settled by the people in New Mexico and Utah, where it had actually worked for the interests of freedom. Why should not the same clause work likewise in Kansas?
It has been asserted that Douglas was looking to the presidency. He was, and justly so. In-so-far as this fact entered into the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, he thought the principle of popular sovereignty would eliminate from national politics a vexatious and troublesome issue, and would transform slavery into a merely local issue with which a candidate for President would not need to concern himself. Otherwise, he must face this issue in his national activities, including his race for the presidency. The one interesting fact that the free-state settlers of Lawrence, Kansas, named their county Douglas would at least suggest a refutation of the charge that Douglas became the special champion of slavery.
He repeatedly declared that personally he did not care whether slavery were voted up or voted down in Kansas. We recall that while Douglas was a New Englander by birth, he was a westerner by education, and a southerner by annexation - he had married a southern woman who fell heir to a large number of slaves. Moreover, Douglas represented a state that was divided on the question of slavery, the state where Senator Thomas, author of the Missouri Compromise, had lived. Once more we recall Douglas' conviction that slavery was really excluded from Kansas by the law of nature - that by a fair application of the principle of popular sovereignty this territory would never become a slave state. In this he was right. Few slaves ever came to Kansas. To apply the principle of popular sovereignty here would be to give the South every chance they could ask, while the ultimate victory would be with the North.
Thus it happened that Douglas acceded to the southern demands, repealed the Missouri Compromise, and organized the territories of Kansas and Nebraska on the principle of popular sovereignty. But Kansas was not left to a natural growth, nor a fair application of the principle of popular sovereignty. The North at once started a crusade "to make the West . . . the homestead of the free." And, as already noted, this was the "last ditch" for the slave forces. Here they made their last stand. They recognized a state of war, and used every means to secure a victory.
In the first election held in the new Territory of Kansas, and again in the second, the slave interests used notoriously fraudulent methods to carry the elections, and thereby gained control of the new territorial government. In the first election, held November 29, 1854, for the election of a delegate to Congress, John W. Whitfield, the pro-slavery candidate was elected by a vote of 2,258 out of a total vote of 2,833; but it was estimated that 1,729 of the votes cast for him were fraudulent. So, in the election of the Legislature, March 30, 1855, pro-slavery hordes came over the border from Missouri, and out of a total vote of 6,307 the pro-slavery party cast 5,427, and of these it was estimated that 4,908 were illegal. Thus popular sovereignty was utterly discredited, for this fraudulently elected government in Kansas was recognized and supported by the National Government. Under these circumstances, in order to free themselves from the fraudulent pro-slavery dominance, the free-state settlers in Kansas determined to prepare a constitution and apply for statehood without waiting for the usual enabling act from Congress. This movement was led by Dr. Charles Robinson, who had participated in a similar movement in California after the inrush there of the "Forty-niners." The result was the Topeka constitution. This was, of course, the act of the free-state people alone, and was without any formal, legal sanction. Nevertheless, when sent to Congress, the House of Representatives was willing to accept this Topeka constitution, thus admitting Kansas to statehood, but the Senate rejected it. The next step in preparing a constitution for Kansas was taken by the pro-slavery party, and is known as the Lecompton movement.
After the fraudulent election of the first legislature in October of 1855, the free-state party had refused to take part in the election of the second legislature, in October of 1856. This legislature, thus controlled by slave Interests, now determined to call a convention to frame a state constitution. Governor Geary vetoed the measure, but it was passed over his veto. The persistent action of the pro-slavery faction finally led to the governor's resignation, March 4, 1857, the day on which President Buchanan was inaugurated. The new President appointed Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi, as governor, and Frederick P. Stanton, of Tennessee, as secretary of Kansas. Walker was a man of unusual ability, fearless, and fair minded. He had served as United States senator, and had been secretary of the treasury under Polk. Before accepting the arduous task of governor of Kansas, he had secured the positive assurance from President Buchanan that any constitution prepared in Kansas should be fully submitted to the people of the territory for a fair vote.
The election of delegates to the Lecompton convention was held June 15, 1857. Though Governor Walker urged all to participate in this election, the free-state men still refrained from voting; so that out of the very defective registration of 9,251 voters, not more than 2,200 cast their ballots. This vote revealed the fact that the free-state men were now in a clear majority in the territory, and that hereafter they would certainly control any election that might be fairly held.
The election of the next legislature occurred October 5th and 6th of this same year, 1857. Governor Walker gave his positive assurance that this election should be fairly conducted, and both parties now took part, with the result that a free-state majority was elected to each house of the new legislature. Meanwhile, the convention had assembled at Lecompton in September, but had adjourned till after this election. They now reassembled on October 19th, and continued in session till November 7th, conscious of the fact that they did not at all represent the majority of the voters now in the territory.
The constitution produced by this convention raised a storm of protest both in Kansas and in the nation at large, but especially in the national Congress. It provided for the return of fugitive slaves by the civil officers of the proposed state. The twenty-third section of the bill of rights read, "Free negroes shall not be permitted to live in this State under any circumstances." We note that this is almost identical with the objectionable section in Missouri's constitution of 1820. The seventh article of the Lecompton constitution was entirely devoted to the subject of slavery. It provided that "The right of property is before and higher than any constitutional sanction, and the right of the owner of a slave to such slave and its increase is the same, and as inviolable as the right of the owner of any property whatever." In the second section it provided that "The legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or without paying the owners previous to their emancipation a full equivalent in money for the slaves so emancipated. They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to the State from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States or Territories, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this State." Section three provides that "In the prosecution of slaves for crimes of higher grade than petit larceny, the legislature shall have no power to deprive them of an impartial trial by a petit jury." Section four reads, "Any person who shall maliciously dismember or deprive a slave of life shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted in case the like offence had been committed on a free white person, and on the like proof, except in case of insurrection of such slave."
The Lecompton convention, before it adjourned, provided that the vote on this constitution should he taken December 21, 1857. It further provided that at this election "The constitution framed by this convention shall be submitted to all the white male inhabitants of the territory of Kansas in the said Territory upon that day, and over the age of twenty-one years, for ratification or rejection, in the following manner and form: The voting shall be by ballot. The ballots cut at said election shall be endorsed, 'Constitution with slavery,' and 'Constitution with no slavery.'" It further provided that "If upon examination of the pollbooks, it shall appear that a majority of the legal votes cast at said election be in favor of the 'Constitution with no slavery,' then the article providing for slavery shall be stricken from this constitution by the president of this convention, and slavery shall no longer exist in the State of Kansas, except that the right of property in slaves now in this Territory shall in no manner be interfered with." It should be noted that the clause providing for the return of fugitive slaves and the clause excluding free negroes from the state were not "in the article providing for slavery." Moreover, the constitution was not to be amended until "after the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty four."
Under the rule provided by the Lecompton convention, there was no legal method of voting against the entire constitution, therefore the free-state party refused to vote at the election on December 21, 1857. At this election, 6,226 votes were cast for the constitution with slavery, and 569 for the constitution without slavery. Of those for slavery, it is now known that 2,720 were fraudulent. This leaves but 3,506 legal votes for this constitution with its slavery provisions.
Meanwhile, Governor Walker went to Washington to protest to the President against the action of the convention in refusing to submit the whole constitution to the people for a fair vote. He now found the President opposed to him, and hence he resigned. The significant fact may here be noted that every governor had come out to Kansas rather inclined to favor the pro-slavery party, but every one of them had been driven to oppose the slave element after coming into contact with the actual conditions in the territory.
After Governor Walker left the territory, Secretary Stanton called a special session of the newly elected legislature, in which, it will be remembered, the free-state party had a clear and rightful majority. This legislature now called a special election for January 4, 1858, at which the Lecompton constitution was to be submitted to the people for a free vote for or against the whole document. At this election, the pro-slavery party, in turn, refrained from voting. There were 10,226 votes cast against the constitution, and 162 in its favor. In other words, there had now been 3,506 legal votes cast for this constitution with slavery, and 10,226 against the whole constitution. Evidently the people of Kansas did not want this constitution. In the face of all this, on February 2nd President Buchanan sent this constitution to Congress with the recommendation that Kansas be admitted to statehood under it.
Concerning the whole Lecompton movement, the historian Rhodes says: "It was a shallow and wicked performance, worthy perhaps of a border-ruffian convention, representing only 2,200 voters; but it is astounding when we know there is reason to believe that the plan emanated from Southern politicians of high position at Washington."
These Southern politicians, together with President Buchanan, seem originally to have been willing that the whole constitution to be framed in Kansas should be fairly submitted to the voters of that territory. But when they learned that by the refusal of the free-state men to take part in the election, a pro-slavery constitutional convention had been elected these wiley Southern politicians evolved the scheme of having this convention not only make but also promulgate the constitution for the new state without submitting it to any popular vote, and they seem to have won the President over to their scheme body and soul. When these pro-slavery delegates, at this rump convention spoke for "a community which was overwhelmingly in favor of a free state . . . they were obedient to the instructions which had been brought to them from Washington." Buchanan probably did not originate this scheme, but rather fell a victim of the schemers. Lewis Cass, Buchanan's secretary of state, did not approve the Lecompton scheme, but he did not come out openly and oppose it.
In contrast to both Buchanan and Cass, we have the heroic and positive stand of Stephen A. Douglas, who was a recognized leader of the strong Democratic party which was then in power at Washington. Well does the historian Rhodes say of him that no Democrat but one of rare courage and indomitable energy would have set himself in opposition to this party at this time. As soon as Douglas learned of the Lecompton scheme he immediately let it be known that he would definitely oppose the move. He hastened to Washington, where in a stormy scene he definitely broke with the President, though of his own political party. On December 9th, after the President had sent his message to Congress, suggesting the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton constitution, Senator Douglas made a definite and outstanding speech against this movement. In this speech he said that the Lecompton convention had declared "All men in favor of the constitution may vote for it - all men against it shall not vote at all. Why not let them vote against it?" he continued, "I have asked a very large number of the gentlemen who framed the constitution, quite a number of delegates, and a still larger number of persons who are their friends, and I have received the same answer from every one of them. . . . They say if they allowed a negative vote, the constitution would have been voted down by an overwhelming majority, and hence the fellows shall not be allowed to vote at all." Again he declared: "If Kansas wants a slave-State constitution, she has a right to it; if she wants a free-State constitution, she has a right to it. It is none of my business which way the slavery clause is decided. I care not whether it is voted down or voted up." He did, however, insist most decidedly that the people's wish should be freely and fairly applied in Kansas. He declared the Lecompton scheme to be "a trick, a fraud upon the rights of the people." The break between Douglas and the President was complete.
On the 2nd of February President Buchanan sent to Congress the Lecompton constitution with the positive recommendation that Kansas be admitted under that organic act. The historian Rhodes keenly summarizes the message in these words: "It is determined by the slavery propaganda that Kansas shall be a slave State. There is now one more free than slave State in the union, and Kansas is needed to restore the equilibrium. To make it a slave State by fair means is impossible. We have now a chance to make it one under the color of law, and this opportunity we are going to use to the best of our ability." The struggle between the President and Douglas, between the administration forces who were trying to force the Lecompton constitution on Kansas, and the anti-slavery men who were trying to defeat this fraudulent scheme, now engrossed the attention of both houses of Congress. In the debate on the bill, "the argument on one side was bare technicality, and on the other, justice." The excitement over this question at Washington was very great. The political atmosphere was highly charged. Congressmen even came to blows over the issue, The administration used every possible means to defeat Douglas and secure the admission of Kansas under this constitution.
The United States Senate, on the 23rd of March, by a vote of 33 to 25, passed a bill to admit Kansas under the Lecompton constitution. The House, on the other hand, on April 1st, by a vote of 120 to 112, provided that the constitution should be submitted once more to the people of Kansas for a popular vote; if accepted, that Kansas should be admitted accordingly; but if rejected, that a new territorial convention should be called to frame another constitution. The two houses were in a deadlock. On request of the Senate, a conference committee was appointed. On April 23rd, this committee, through its chairman, William H. English, reported a new bill, known as the English bill.
Senator Douglas, after some hesitancy, took a definite stand in opposition to this bill, but it was passed by a close vote in each house of Congress. This act has been called the "English Swindle," and "Lecompton, Junior." It has been spoken of as "a bribe and a threat." A modern historian of good repute states that: "The measure offered Kansas a large grant of government lands, and provided that the proposition should be voted on by the people of Kansas. If a majority voted for acceptance, Kansas should be admitted into the Union under the Lecompton constitution by proclamation of the President. If the people rejected the offer, then the territory could not be admitted as a State until its population reached the number required for a representative. It was in effect a bribe of land to induce the people to accept the Lecompton Constitution."
The time has come when the simple truth with regard to this much maligned English bill should be fairly stated. By this act Congress did submit the Lecompton constitution to the people of Kansas for a fair vote. At the same time it proposed a new land ordinance. These two propositions were inseparably combined, the ballots reading either "For proposition of Congress and admission," or, "Against proposition of Congress and admission." This English bill also provided the only enabling act that Kansas ever had. This is the part that has been referred to as "a threat." It was couched in the following language, "Should the majority of votes be cast for 'proposition rejected,' it shall be deemed and held that the people of Kansas do not desire admission into the Union with said Constitution, under the conditions set forth in said proposition; and in that event the people of said Territory are hereby authorized and empowered to form for themselves a Constitution and State Government, by the name of the State of Kansas, according to the Federal Constitution, and may elect delegates for that purpose whenever, and not before, it is ascertained, by a census duly and legally taken, that the population of said Territory equals the ratio of representation required for a Member of the House of Representatives of the United States." It is not clear that a territory which has a smaller population than that required for each representative in the National Congress should be admitted to statehood with two senators and one representative without some very unusual excuse. As a matter of fact, the congressional ratio at this time was 93,243, and in less than two years the population of Kansas was 107,206. Therefore, the "threat" as to population contained in the English bill was not very serious. It must be remembered that the question of slavery or freedom in Kansas had by this time been decided in favor of freedom. It was now a question whether Kansas should remain a territory till she had the population usually and fairly required for statehood.
As to the charge of bribery in the proposed land ordinance, a rather full statement, with some comparisons, should be carefully made and considered before judgment is passed. As a matter of fact, the land provisions in the English bill are essentially identical with the provisions of the act under which Kansas was finally. admitted to the Union, the one being phrased throughout in almost the identical words of the other. In each of them, Kansas was to be given "sections numbered sixteen and thirty-six in every township of public lands in the State for the use of schools ... .. seventy-two sections of land for a State University," "ten sections . . . for public buildings ... .. all salt springs within the said State, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land adjoining or as continguous as may be to each," [granted to the state, "for its use"], and five per cent of public lands lying within the state, sold by Congress, "shall be paid to the State for the purpose of making public roads and internal improvements, [here the act admitting Kansas in 1861 added the clause "or for other purposes,"] as the Legislature shall direct." The Lecompton convention had asked for the seventy-two sections for the state university, as granted in the English bill. It had asked for the five per cent from the sale of public lands, but had specified that two-thirds of the sum should be devoted to aiding in the building of railroads within the state and the "residue for the support of common schools." The convention had asked for "all valuable mines, together with all the lands necessary to their full occupation and use," in addition to the salt springs and adjoining lands. The latter only were to be granted under the English bill. It had asked for sections eight, sixteen, twenty-four, and thirty-six for common schools. The English bill reduced this by one-half. Finally, the said Lecompton convention had asked "That each alternate section of land now owned, or which may hereafter be acquired by the United States, for twelve miles on each side of a railroad to be established or located from some point on the northern boundary of the State, leading southerly through said State in the direction of the Gulf of Mexico, and on each side of a railroad to be located and established from some point on the Missouri river westwardly through said State in the direction of the Pacific ocean, shall be reserved and conveyed to said State of Kansas for the purpose af[sic] aiding in the construction of said railroad." Note that the English "bribe" did not grant any of this. The fact is that the English bill greatly reduced the amount of land asked for by the Lecompton convention, and offered Kansas just what she finally received, when admitted to the Union in 1861.
The one item contained in the English bill that had not been asked for by the Lecompton convention was the ten sections of land for public buildings. In this connection it may be noted that the Wyandotte convention asked for thirty-six sections for public buildings, and that the state actually received ten sections for this purpose.
The vote under the English bill was taken in Kansas on August 2, 1858. At this election, 11,300 votes were cast "Against proposition of Congress and admission," and only 1,788 "For proposition of Congress and admission." Thus ended the attempt to force the Lecompton constitution on the people of Kansas contrary to their wish and conviction. This vote "effectually determined that slavery should not exist in Kansas." In fact, it practically determined that slavery should not exist even in the Territory of Kansas, for according to the census of 1860 there were only two slaves in the territory by that date.
Professor John W. Burgess, in a closing paragraph of his scholarly work, The Middle Period, referring to this Kansas struggle, says: "With the rejection of the Lecompton constitution by the people of Kansas, on August 2nd, the struggle for Kansas was closed. It was to be a non-slaveholding Commonwealth and a Republican Commonwealth. The record of this struggle is certainly one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of the United States. . . . The prudence, moderation, tact and bravery of Dr. Robinson and his friends have rarely been excelled by the statesmen and diplomats of the New World or the Old."
While the Lecompton movement was still in progress, the new free-state Kansas legislature, which had convened at Lecompton January 4, 1858, and had promptly adjourned to Lawrence, passed an act on February 10th calling a third constitutional convention for Kansas. The election for delegates was held March 9th, and the convention assembled at Minneola, in Franklin County, March 23rd. It soon adjourned to Leavenworth, where it prepared a free-state constitution, which was submitted to the people on May 18th, and received about 3,000 votes in its favor. It was sent to Congress, but never voted on by either house.
The fourth, and last, convention to frame a constitution for Kansas assembled at Wyandotte July 5, 1859. Governor Medary had, on March 7th, issued a proclamation, calling an election "for or against holding a constitutional convention." The vote on this question, taken March 28th, resulted in a total of 5,306 for a constitution and 1,425 against a Constitution. At the election for delegates to this convention, held June 7th, thirty-five Republican and seventeen Democratic delegates were chosen. Not a single member of this convention was born in Missouri, but fourteen of them were born in Ohio. The constitution prepared by this body was modeled closely after that of Ohio. In the election held October 4, 1859, there were 10,421 votes cast for this constitution, and 5,530 against it.
An examination of the census of 1860 reveals some interesting facts concerning the population of Kansas at this date. Out of a total population of 107,206, we find that while 65,914 were born in free states, only 27,368 were born in slave states, and that 12,691 were foreign born. There were at this time 625 free colored people and two slaves in the territory. An examination of the states whence these Kansans came reveals the fact that 11,356 came from Missouri, and 6,556 from Kentucky, while 11,617 came from Ohio, 6,463 from Pennsylvania, 9,945 from Indiana, 9,367 from Illinois, 6,331 from New York, and 3,208 from all New England.
It will be recalled that the split in the Democratic party, caused largely by the breach between Douglas and Buchanan over the Lecompton movement, resulted in victory for the new Republican party in the election of Lincoln to the presidency in 1860, which, in turn, precipitated secession and the Civil War. Now, the Wyandotte constitution, though promptly sent to Congress, and accepted by the House of Representatives, could not secure passage through the United States Senate until, on the 21st of January, when Jefferson Davis and other Southern senators withdrew from the Senate to go with their seceding states out of the Union. On this day, William H. Seward called up in the Senate the bill for the admission of Kansas, and it was promptly passed. It was then repassed by the House of Representatives, which had already passed it in the preceding Congress. The bill was signed by President Buchanan on January 29th, 1861, thus finally admitting the State of Kansas "to the stars," though it had been "through difficulties." Dr. Charles Robinson was inaugurated as governor of the new state on February 9, 1861. On this same day Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America by the Montgomery convention. Thus verily the war begun in Kansas was extended to the whole nation. In this war, Kansas, in turn, did her full share.
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