KANSAS 



3210 



KANSAS 



instead of continuing westward, but in 1854 the 

 population was estimated at only seven 

 hundred. 



Territorial Days. Until 1821, Kansas was a 

 part of Missouri; but from that date until 1854 

 it was an unorganized territory, peopled chiefly 

 by Indians. Beginning in 1852, appeals were 

 made to Congress to organize the territory of 

 Kansas, but not until 1854 were the appeals 

 effective. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which 

 created a territory of Kansas far larger than 

 the present state, and including much of Colo- 

 rado, repealed the Missouri Compromise of 

 thirty-four years before and left the decision 

 of the slavery question to the people of the 

 territory. Immediately there began a fierce 

 and bitter struggle. Immigrants from the 

 South and from the North flocked to the terri- 

 tory, "squatters" from Missouri playing a par- 

 ticularly large part, and because of these lat- 

 ter, the first elections, in 1855, made the slavery 

 party victorious. The anti-slavery men con- 

 tested the election on the ground that more 

 than twice as many votes had been cast as 

 there were voters in the territory; they called 

 a convention in October, 1855, and adopted a 

 constitution prohibiting slavery. This consti- 

 tution was accepted by the people, the pro- 

 slavery men refusing to vote, and an election 

 held under it in 1856 resulted in the choice of 

 a free-state governor. 



The matter was not to be settled thus 

 quietly, however. Both sides had armed them- 

 selves; both sides were only waiting for an 

 opportunity to break out in open violence ; and 

 the opportunity was not long in coming. After 

 several preliminary outbreaks there occurred 

 in May, 1856, the ill-advised raid of John 

 Brown and his sons on Pottawatomie Creek, 

 and for months the state was given over to the 

 horrors of a border war. Finally, late in 1856, 

 Federal troops were invited to the rescue by 

 Governor Geary, and the period of lawless- 

 ness and crime was brought to an end. Federal 

 troops prevented the assembling of the free- 

 state legislature, and a constitution adopted at 

 Lecompton by the proslavery party was sub- 

 mitted to the people early in 1858. It was 

 rejected, and the proslavery party began to 

 see that its chances for dominance were lessen- 

 ing, so steadily was the number of Northern 

 immigrants increasing. At last a constitution 

 prohibiting slavery was adopted, and on Janu- 

 ary 29, 1861, Kansas was admitted to the Union 

 as the thirty-fourth state, entering just prior to 

 the War of Secession. 



Statehood. The new state was very loyal, 

 sending to the Union armies a larger number 

 of soldiers in proportion to its population than 

 any other state. A sort of guerilla warfare 

 was kept up by the Confederates in the eastern 

 part, and added to the horrors caused by the 

 drought and famine of 1860. "Bleeding Kan- 

 sas," they called it then, but immediately* 

 after the close of the war a period of rapid 

 development set in. There was a steady stream 

 of immigration, and railroads began to do their 

 part in expansion, the first train having entered 

 the state in 1860 over the .Union Pacific. There 

 were. occasional Indian troubles, but after 1868 

 most of the tribes were moved to Indian Terri- 

 tory, now a part of Oklahoma. 



The later events in the history of the state 

 have been concerned chiefly with legislative 

 questions, over many of which there have been 

 sharp contests. The prohibition question came 

 up first, to be settled after a long controversy 

 in favor of the temperance forces. This was 

 succeeded by strong anti-trust agitation, and 

 by a long-continued campaign for woman suf- 

 frage, both resulting in legislative enactment 

 or constitutional amendments (see subhead 

 Government above. For the most part the 

 state has been, throughout its history, Republi- 

 can in politics, but in the Presidential election 

 of 1912 the Democratic party received a con- 

 siderable plurality, the Progressives also polling 

 a large vote. In 1916 the state cast its vote 

 for Woodrow Wilson for President, but elected 

 a Republican governor. A.MC c. 



Consult Hazelrigg's New History of Kansas 

 (designed expressly for use in schools) ; Green's 

 Early Days in Kansas; Dobbs' Kansas Voters 

 Manual. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes will be of interest in connection 

 with the study of Kansas : 



Atchison 



Chanute 



Coffeyville 



Emporia 



Fort Scott 



Hutchinson 



Independence 



lola 



CITIES 



Kansas City 



Lawrence 



Leavenworth 



Parsons 



Pittsburg 



Salina 



Topeka 



Wichita 



HISTORY 



Brown, John Lecompton Constitu- 



Coronado, Francisco tion 



Vasquez Louisiana Purchase 



Kansas-Nebraska Bill Missouri Compromise 



PRODUCTS AND INDUSTRIES ' 



Apple Corn 



Cattle Dairying 



Coal Flour 



