The Leavenworth Constitution was one of four

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 ...

state constitutions proposed during the era of

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 ...

. It was never adopted. The Leavenworth Constitution was drafted by a convention of Free-Staters, and was the most progressive of the four proposed constitutions. The conspicuous aspects of this Constitution were a Bill of Rights that referred to "''all men''" (making no distinction between the rights of white men and Black men), the banning of slavery from the state, and a basic framework for the rights of women. The constitutional convention that framed the Leavenworth Constitution was provided for by an act of the Territorial Legislature passed in February 1858, during the pendency of 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 Co ...

in Congress. The constitution was adopted by the convention at Leavenworth April 3, 1858, and by the people at an election held May 18, 1858. The Leavenworth Constitution did not have a great impact on the

history of Kansas The U.S. state of Kansas, located on the eastern edge of the Great Plains, was the home of nomadic Native American tribes who hunted the vast herds of bison (often called "buffalo"). In around 1450 AD, the Wichita People founded the great city ...

since the

US 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 powe ...

did not approve of the codified laws in the written document. The other proposed state constitutions were the

Topeka Constitution The Topeka Constitutional Convention met from October 23 to November 11, 1855 in Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, Kansas Territory, in a building afterwards called Constitution Hall (Topeka, Kansas), Constitution Hall. It drafted the Topeka Constitution, w ...

(1855), the

(1857) and the

Wyandotte Constitution 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 m ...

(1859).

External links

* The Kansas Constitution
The Leavenworth Constitution
1858 in the United States Bleeding Kansas 1858 documents Leavenworth, Kansas Constitutions of Kansas {{US-hist-stub

See also

Further reading

External links