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ment towards the squatters upon the Neutral Lands. On account of the drouth, few were able to purchase their claims-even at government prices, and it was feared that if speculators did not come in and bid off the lands, the government would withdraw the sales, and remove the squatters by force.

By this time the people in southern Kansas had learned to take care of themselves, and resist oppression, no matter from whom it came. They organized, armed themselves, and attended the sales, where it was generally understood that if any one sought to bid off another's claim, he should pay the forfeit with his life. But one person sought to do this, and he had scarcely left the town before he was seized by a party, who would have taken his llfe had he not begged so earnestly, and offered to deed over the land in fee simple to the original claimant. They finally let him go. They thus preserved and held their homes, the Government not seeking to interfere with them.

The troubles and feuds in south-eastern Kansas continued until the breaking out of the national conflict, when they assumed a destructive character, and did not subside until the close of the rebellion.

The Wyandotte Constitution was presented in the Senate on the 14th of February, 1860, and referred to the Committee on Territories, together with a bill for the admission of Kansas. The Committee, unable to agree among themselves, finally reported without any recommendation on the subject.

The same Constitution was laid before the House, on the 10th of February, and on the 15th, Mr. Grow, of Pennsylvania, introduced a bill for the admission of Kansas into the Union, which was read the first and second times, and referred to the Committee on Territories. This bill was reported back favorably from that Committee, and, on the 11th of April, passed the House by 134 yeas to 73 nays. The Senate stubbornly refused to take it up, and adjourned,

leaving Kansas still a Territory, though two years previous that body had warmly favored her admission, under a constitution which had its origin in fraud and outrage. Thus Kansas was deprived of taking any part in the Presidential election of 1860, and kept out of the Union for another year, though every way qualified for admission.

The pretexts for opposing the admission of Kansas, employed by opponents, were that her inhabitants were inadequate, and that the provisions of the English bill had not been fully observed.

At the next session of Congress the application for the admission of Kansas was again renewed, and, on motion of Governor Seward, the House bill which had been passed at the former occasion, was called up in the Senate, in which, on the 31st of January, after some slight amendments it was passed by a vote of 36 yeas, to 16 nays. On the 21st of the same month it was taken up out of regular order, on motion of Mr. Grow, of Pennsylvania, and passed with the Senate's amendments, by 119 yeas to 42 nays.

On the same day Kansas was admitted, Messrs. Jefferson Davis, Clement C. Clay, Fitzpatrick, Mallory, and others, abandoned their seats in Congress to take part in the southern rebellion. Thus the conflict, inaugurated by the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and fought upon the principles of Squatter Sovereignty, ended, making the first defeat of slavery, and the first triumph of free labor, in our national history.

The struggle in Kansas, though not marked by great battles or frightful carnage, was none the less fierce and powerful. It was a contest in which patient endurance, inflexible courage and prudent management were more essential to success than military strength and valor, requiring not only the qualifications of a soldier, but of a statesman, a martyr and a philanthropist. Not only had the enemy to be met with cool determination and with force, but public sentiment abroad had to be considered, a conflict with the

Federal Government avoided, and yet a government upheld and maintained, in opposition to the one recognized by the Federal authority, means raised without taxation, and subsistance and arms procured. Still, so prudently, skill fully and successfully were things managed by the free state men, that throughout the long protracted trouble there can be but little found in their conduct to censure or condemn.

The soil of Kansas is historic ground for fifty miles in width. Along its eastern border, there is scarcely an acre but has been the scene of some daring rencounter, battle or event, connected with the difficulties in the Territory. Oid settlers, as they ride along, will here and there call the attention of the stranger to the spot where some one was killed, a house burnt, a skirmish between the opposing parties took place, or where a convention was held, which resolved to resist oppression. Along her ravines free state men have skirted or found a hiding place, to elude the pursuit of their enemies, and over her prairies the fiery chase has often passed.

APPENDIX.

TOPEKA CONSTITUTION IN CONGRESS.

[The following matter should have followed the 302d page, but by an accident, the copy was mislaid until after the time it should have been set up, and, consequently, it is inserted here.]

The Topeka Constitution did not reach Congress until the spring of 1856. On the 24th of March it was presented in the Senate by Lewis Cass, and referred to the Committee on Territories. In the House it was presented by Mr. Mace, on the 7th of April. Agreeable with the petition accompanying the document, a bill was introduced by Mr. Grow, of Pennsylvania. on the 25th of June, admitting Kansas into the Union, and passed the House on the 3d of July, by a vote of 99 yeas to 97 nays. Upon going to the Senate it was referred to the Committee on Territories, from which it was reported back on the 8th of July, with the recommendation that the bill be amended by striking out the preamble, and also the whole of the bill after the enacting clause, and insert in lieu thereof the Senate bill, which had passed that body, authorizing the people of Kansas to frame a constitution and apply for admission into the Union. The bill thus changed to almost a new one, was passed by 30 yeas to 13 nays; while it was pending efforts were made to amend it still further by a clause declaring

the Territorial laws framed at Shawnee Mission invalid, but failed by a vote of 32 nays to 12 yeas, A bill was then introduced into the House and passed, reorganizing the Territory of Kansas, but on going to the Senate was lost. Attention was again called, in connection with the Lecompton fraud, to the Topeka Constitution by the minority report, but no action was ever again taken upon it.

WORKS CONSULTED IN COMPILING THIS VOLUME, AND A BRIEF NOTICE OF THE TERRITORIAL LITERATURE OF KANSAS.

It would be tedious and useless to give all the sources of information that have been resorted to in writing this book. The authorities have been so various and numerous, that the author has not mentioned them in foot notes, to avoid increasing the size and cost of the volume. Much has been gathered from living witnesses, and participants in eventsmuch that has never before been published of a secret and party character. The following have been the author's

chief references:

HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.

French's Historical Collection, from French writers upon the early history of Louisiana Bruer's History of Louisiana, Stoddard's Sketches of the West, Martin's Louisiana, Peck's Annals of the West, Bancroft's United States, Dillon's Indiana, Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, Sparks' Biographies of Marquette, De Soto and La Salle, Hildreth's United States.

ON SLAVERY AND CONGRESSIONAL.

Bancroft's United States, Greeley's American Conflict, Annals of Congress, Colonial Histories of New England and other Colonies, Benton's Thirty Year's View, Congressional Globe, American State Papers, Madison's Writings, Life of Clay, of Calhoun, &c.

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