Andrew Horatio Reeder (July 12, 1807 – July 5, 1864) was the first governor of the

Territory of Kansas The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the free state of Kansas. ...

Biography

Reeder was born in

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river that joins the Delaware R ...

to Absolom Reeder and Christina (Smith) Reeder. He was educated at an academy in

Lawrenceville, New Jersey Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.

. He read law in a

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

law office and was admitted to the bar there in 1828. In 1831, he married Frederika Amalia Hutter. Together they had three sons and seven daughters.

Career

Reeder was a very loyal member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and supported the idea of

popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the authority of a state and its government are created and sustained by the consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. Popular sovereignty, being a principle, does not imply any ...

which dealt with territories' decisions on the issue of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. On June 29, 1854, President Franklin Pierce appointed Reeder to the office of the governor of the territory of Kansas and remained in office until August 16, 1855, when he was fired. Reeder took the oath of office on July 7 and arrived in Kansas on October 7. He served until April 17, 1855, when he left the territory, making

Daniel Woodson Daniel Woodson (May 24, 1824 – October 5, 1894) was secretary of Kansas Territory (1854–1857) and a five-time acting governor of the territory. Early life Woodson was born on a farm in Albemarle County, Virginia and orphaned at age 7. He ...

acting territorial governor. Reeder returned to the Kansas Territory on June 23. As governor of the Territory of Kansas, Reeder was a proponent of the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act, which let each territory's residents decide whether to allow or prohibit slavery. On March 30, 1855, one of the biggest voting frauds took place, when neighboring Missourians came into the Kansas Territory to vote illegally on the issue of Kansas being admitted into the US as a free state or a slave state. The incident caused border violence between

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, part of the

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

period. Reeder refused to ratify the results, called for a new election to fill the vacancies, and designated the townsite of Pawnee as the meeting place for the first territorial legislature. Pierce formally dismissed Reeder for his refusal to use his position to aid in making Kansas a slave state. In May 1856, facing indictment for high treason, he left the territory disguised as a woodchopper. Reeder returned to Pennsylvania and remained in politics, joining the recently founded Republican Party. On the first ballot for the vice-presidential nomination taken by delegates to the 1860 Republican National Convention, Reeder received fifty-one votes, which put him in fourth place behind the eventual nominee,

Hannibal Hamlin Hannibal Hamlin (August 27, 1809 – July 4, 1891) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 15th vice president of the United States from 1861 to 1865, during President Abraham Lincoln's first term. He was the first Republican ...

Death

Andrew Horatio Reeder died in

, on July 5, 1864, and is buried in

Easton Cemetery Easton Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located in Easton, Pennsylvania and the burial site of many notable individuals. ''Note:'' This includes The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. Easton Cemetery's ...

. Reeder Street on College Hill is named for him.

References

External links

*
Andrew Horatio Reeder
at

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeder, Andrew Horatio 1807 births 1864 deaths 19th-century American politicians American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law Governors of Kansas Territory Kansas Democrats Lawrenceville School alumni Pennsylvania Republicans Politicians from Easton, Pennsylvania