Martin Franklin Conway (November 19, 1827 – February 15, 1882) was a

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congressman,

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

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abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, and advocate of the Free-State movement in

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 ...

. Conway was born in Harford County, Maryland, the son of Dr. W. D. Conway and Frances (Maulsby) Conway. His father was an Exploring Surveyor in the

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, and a slave-owner. Conway learned the printer's trade in

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after leaving school at fourteen and became an organizer of the National Typographical Union. He married Emily Dykes in 1851, and studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1852. Conway moved to the Kansas Territory in 1854, initially working as a special correspondent for the '' Baltimore Sun''. He soon resumed the practice of law and became involved in territorial politics. In March 1855, Conway was elected from Riley County to the first Territorial Council (Senate), but resigned prior to assuming his seat. In 1855, he was an active member at the Free-State meeting in Big Springs and became a delegate to 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 ...

al convention. In January 1856, he was elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court under the Topeka constitution. In 1858, he served as president of 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 ...

al Convention. The following year, Conway was elected as representative to the U.S. Congress under 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 ...

and, when Kansas entered the Union in January 1861, he was the new state's first congressman, serving as a Republican until March 3, 1863. The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863; Conway spent the day in Massachusetts with Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Julia Ward Howe. That month, he put forth a resolution in Congress to recognize the Confederacy then wage war on the south as war between nations. While in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was known for his opposition to slavery but also served as a member of the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

"peace convention" in an effort to avert civil war. He was not returned to congress for another term, but continued to live in Washington. Conway defended President Andrew Johnson against political assaults waged by Radical Republicans in Congress and, in June 1866, Johnson appointed Conway as consul to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

. While living in Washington during the fall of 1873, Conway had a violent confrontation with personal and political enemy, Samuel C. Pomeroy, the former U. S. senator from Kansas. He was arrested for firing three shots at and slightly wounding Pomeroy, but did not stand trial. Conway became a patient at St. Elizabeth, the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C., here are indications of some intrigue surrounding his residence there. An area for more research.Read comments of a friend who visited Conway and spoke to "an eminent physician in Washington" about his condition in The Kansas Memorial: A Report of the Old Settlers Meeting Held at Bismark Grove, Kansas, September 15 and 16, 1879.(See page 129 - Letter from Martin F Conway and preceding paragraph.) Edited by Charles S. Gleed. Available at the New York Public Library (off-site
The Kansas Memorial
and died at age fifty-four.

References

External links

Territorial Kansas History. Hundreds of personal letters and more.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Martin F. 1827 births 1882 deaths Politicians from Harford County, Maryland People from Riley County, Kansas American war correspondents American abolitionists Members of the Kansas Territorial Legislature Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American legislators Politically motivated migrations Washington, D.C., Republicans 19th-century Kansas politicians