The Wyandotte Constitution is the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

of the U.S. state of

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 the ...

Background

The

Kansas Territory 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 United States, Union as the Slave and ...

was created in 1854. The largest issue by far in territorial Kansas was whether slavery was to be permitted or prohibited; aside from the moral question, which at the time was seen as a religious question, the admission of Kansas to the highly polarized Union would help either the pro- or anti-slavery faction in Congress. As a procedure for resolving the issue, Congress accepted the proposal of Senator

Stephen A. Douglas Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which wa ...

, that the question be settled by

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 ...

: the residents of the territory would decide the question by vote. This did not work, because there was no accepted definition of who was a resident of the territory and could therefore vote. Hoping to make Kansas a

slave state In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were not. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states ...

, thousands of "

Border Ruffians Border ruffians were proslavery raiders, crossing from the slave state of Missouri into the Kansas Territory, to help ensure Kansas entered the Union as a slave state. They were a key part of the violent period called Bleeding Kansas, that pea ...

" from the neighboring slave state of Missouri poured into Kansas, some with the intent to live in Kansas, but more planning to return to Missouri as soon as they had voted. The

Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society The Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, headquartered in Boston, was organized as an auxiliary of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1835. Its roots were in the New England Anti-Slavery Society, organized by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of ' ...

and similar groups sponsored free-state farmers who would move to Kansas. The most famous of these was John Brown, who told the free-state Kansans that violence was unfortunately necessary if Kansas were to be a free state. He put this into practice himself at the Pottawatomie massacre of 1856. As it was put later by his son John Brown, Jr., "only force and fire-arms kept slavery out of Kansas". The upshot was that there were sizeable pro- and anti-slavery factions in Kansas, although the former were more numerous, if one accepted at face value their claim to be genuine Kansas residents. The result was duelling constitutions: for several years Kansas had two governments, in two different cities (

Lecompton Lecompton (pronounced ) is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 588. Lecompton was the ''de jure'' territorial capital of Kansas from 1855 to 1861, and the Douglas County seat f ...

and

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

), with two constitutions, one pro- and one anti-slavery, each claiming to be the only legitimate government of the entire territory.

Duelling constitutions

The convention drafting the Wyandotte Constitution was held between July 5, 1859 and on July 29, 1859, at Lipman Meyer's Hall just north of

Kaw Point Kaw Point is the point where the Kansas River (Kaw River) terminates at the Missouri River in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City, Kansas. It is also where the Missouri River ceases its southerly course and turns to flow generally east throug ...

in the former community of Wyandotte (which is now part of

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

, in

Wyandotte County, Kansas Wyandotte County (; county code WY) is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 169,245, making it Kansas's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat and most populous city is Kansas City, with whic ...

). However, there were also three other constitutions made for Kansans to vote on: the

Topeka Constitution The Topeka Constitutional Convention met from October 23 to November 11, 1855 in Topeka, Kansas Territory, in a building afterwards called Constitution Hall. It drafted the Topeka Constitution, which banned slavery in Kansas, though it would also ...

, the

Leavenworth Constitution The Leavenworth Constitution was one of four Kansas state constitutions proposed during the era of Bleeding Kansas. It was never adopted. The Leavenworth Constitution was drafted by a convention of Free-Staters, and was the most progressive of the ...

, and the

Lecompton Constitution The Lecompton Constitution (1859) was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas. Named for the city of Lecompton where it was drafted, it was strongly pro-slavery. It never went into effect. History Purpose The Lecompton C ...

. After voting took place in a climate of intimidation and open violence, the Lecompton Constitution was voted to be the constitution of Kansas, and would have made Kansas a slave state. All that was left to do was send it to Washington D.C. After a rigorous national debate over the topic, it was overruled, and the people of Kansas were set to vote on the four constitutions again. The Wyandotte Constitution was approved in a referendum by a vote of 10,421 to 5,530 on October 4, 1859."Kansas Constitutions."
''KSHS.org''. Kansas Historical Society. In April, 1860, the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

voted 134 to 73 to admit

under the Wyandotte Constitution; however, there was resistance in the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. As 11 slave states

secede Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics l ...

d from the Union, their senators left their seats and on January 21, 1861, the Senate passed the Kansas bill. The admission of Kansas as a free state became effective January 29, 1861.

The constitution settled the terms of

' admission to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, particularly establishing that it would be a free state rather than a

.Buescher, John.
With or Without Slavery

TeachingHistory.org
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Retrieved 2 September 2011. The constitution represented a pragmatic compromise over hotly contested issues: it rejected slavery and affirmed separate property rights for married women and their right to participate in school elections, but also denied universal

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

for women, blacks, and Indians. Solon O. Thacher of Lawrence gave a rousing speech opposing the exclusion of African-Americans from Kansas. The motion to exclude African-Americans was subsequently defeated, despite the fact that previously, "all the Democrats and a few of the Republicans favored the exclusion."Few Republicans and All Democrats favored Exclusion
Another issue delegates considered was that of women's rights.

Clarina Nichols Clarina Irene Howard Nichols (January 25, 1810 – January 11, 1885) was a journalist, lobbyist and public speaker involved in all three of the major reform movements of the mid-19th century: Temperance movement, temperance, Abolitionism in t ...

, social activist and associated editor of ''Quindaro Chindowan'', an abolitionist newspaper, was asked to address the convention. As a result of her efforts, women gained the rights to own property and to participate in school district elections. In addition, the constitution assured that the state would provide for women's equal rights "in the possession of their children." The constitution dramatically reduced the size of the state so its western border did not extend as far as the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

which was part of

and at the time was the height of the

Pike's Peak Gold Rush The Pike's Peak Gold Rush (later known as the Colorado Gold Rush) was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 ...

. The three earlier constitutions had set the western border as the Rockies. The land that was given up became part of

Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado. The territory was organized in the ...

. Amended many times (including a

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

amendment in 1912), the Wyandotte Constitution is still the

constitution of Kansas The Wyandotte Constitution is the constitution of the U.S. state of Kansas. Background The Kansas Territory was created in 1854. The largest issue by far in territorial Kansas was whether slavery was to be permitted or prohibited; aside from the ...

Preamble

References

Sources

Kansas State Historical Society
* Wilder, D.W., "''The Annals of Kansas''". 1886. * William G. Cutler,

1883

External links

Text of the Wyandotte Constitution
{{Constitutions of the United States Bleeding Kansas Kansas law Constitutions of Kansas

1859 documents