USA > Kansas > A standard history of Kansas and Kansans, Volume I > Part 61
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While insult, outrage, and death has been inflicted upon many of our unoffending citizens, by those whom we desire to recognize as brothers, while the attempt is being made to infliet upon us the most galling and debasing slavery, our lives have been spared, and a way pointed out by which, without imbuing our hands in blood, we ean secure the blessings of Liberty and a Good Government. The fields of the husbandman have yielded abundantly, and industry in all its channels have been appro- priately rewarded. For those and the innumerable blessings we are enjoying, let our hearts be devotedly thankful. From every altar let Thanksgiving and Songs of Praise ascend to that God from whom these blessings flow. Let the occasion be improved by the people of Kansas, for the advancement of Freedom, Virtue and Christianity-let the poor be remembered and relieved, and the day be wholly spent as Wisdom shall direct, and God approve and bless.
Given under my hand, at the office of the Exceutive Committee of Kansas Territory, in the City of Topeka, this 27th day of November, A. D. 1855.
J. K. GOODIN, Sec'y.
J. H. LANE, Chairman.
Among other proelamations issued by Lane were:
1. Address and eall for election to choose Delegates to the Cousti- tutional Convention.
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2. Proclamation for special election in Burr Oak and Wolf River Precinets.
3. Proclamation calling an election to be held December 15, 1855, for the ratification of the Constitution, the vote on the Bank Law, and the Exclusion of Negroes and Mulattoes.
4. The proclamation announcing the result of the election for State officers.
5. A proclamation calling an election for State officers and mem- bers of Congress to be held January 15, 1856.
The election held under the Topeka Constitution, December 15, 1855, resulted in the choice of the Free-State tieket as nominated at the Lawrence Convention. The result of the election was announced by James H. Lane, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Kansas Ter- ritory, on the 6th of February. On the 8th of election of Mark W. Delahay for Representative to the 34th Congress was announced.
The Federal Government began to take notice of the Topeka move- ment in February, 1856. On the 24th day of January, President Pierce sent a special message to Congress endorsing the Kansas Territorial Leg- islature. He characterized the formation of the Topeka government as revolutionary, and an act of rebellion. On the 15th day of that month. Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, committed to Governor Shan- non, then in Washington, an order which he had addressed to Colonel E. V. Summer at Fort Leavenworth, and to Brevet Colonel P. St. George Cook, at Fort Riley. With the order was a copy of a procla- mation issued on the 11th of February by President Pierce, as fol- lows :
The order says that the President has "warned all persons combined for insurrection or invasive aggression against the organized government of the Territory of Kansas, or associated to resist the due execution of the laws therein, to abstain from such revolutionary and lawless proceedings, and has commanded them to disperse and retire peaccably to their respec- tive abodes, on pain of being resisted by his whole constitutional power. If, therefore, the Governor of the Territory, finding the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, and the powers vested in United States Marshals, inadequate for the suppression of insurrectionary combinations, or armed resistance to the execution of the law, should make requisition upon you to furnish a military force to aid him in the performance of that official duty, you are hereby directed to employ for that purpose such part of your command as may in your judgment consistently be detached from their military duty.
Notwithstanding this warning, the Free-State party proceeded under the direction of the Topeka Constitution. The proclamation for the election of State officers had been issued on the 27th day of December, 1855. That proclamation provided that at the same time and at the same place, the voters would eleet twenty persons for Senators and sixty persons for Representatives to the General Assembly of the State of Kansas. This General Assembly was elected with the State officers. The Constitution provided that it should meet on the 4th of March. 1856, at the City of Topeka, at 12 M. The Constitution also provided
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that the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Judges of the Supreme Court and Attorney General should all appear at the same time and same place to take the oath of office and inaugurate the gov- ernment provided by the Free-State Constitution. Pursuant to this provision the Legislature assembled at Topeka, and the State officers appeared and qualified as provided by the Constitution. The minutes of the Executive Committee of Kansas Territory contain the follow- ing report of the meeting of the Legislature:
CITY OF TOPEKA, 12 O'CLOCK M.
At the first session of the first General Assembly of Kansas under the Constitution of said State which was framed by a convention convened at Topeka on the 23d day of October, A. D. 1855, and ratified by the people on the 15th day of December, A. D. 1855, at 12 o'clock M. on Tuesday, the 4th day of March, A. D. 1856, in pursuance of the 3d section of the Schedule attached to said constitution. The house was called to order by J. H. Lane, Chairman of the "Executive Committee of Kansas Territory," with C. K. Holliday, Secretary pro tem of Executive Com- mittee aforesaid.
There was a joint session of the Senate and House at 5 o'clock P. M. at which it was proclaimed that the officers voted for on the 15th day of January were duly eleeted. Charles Robinson, Governor, was introduced, took the oatlı of office and delivered an inaugural address. James H. Lane and Andrew H. Reeder were elected United States Sen- ators. There was no opposition to either. Each received thirty-eight votes. The Legislature adjourned on the 8th day of March to meet on the 4th of the following July. On the 11th of February, 1856 the Executive Committee of Kansas Territory held a session at Lawrence, at which the following action was taken :
LAWRENCE, FEBY. 11TH, 1856.
Committee met-Present, Lane, Holliday, Brown and Goodin.
On motion of Mr. Holliday the Sec'y was directed to write M. J. Parrott, Esq., at Washington City, reminding him of his appointment as Chairman of a Committee of the Executive Committee to draft a memorial to be presented to Congress, setting forth our grievances and asking of Congress the immediate admission of Kansas into the Union as a State.
On motion of Mr. Brown it was resolved that the four remaining members of the Committee repair to Washington in order to prove as efficient as possible in securing for Kansas her admission into the Union as a Sovereign State, and that the sum of five hundred dollars, certificates of indebtedness, be issued to C. K. Ilolliday, G. W. Brown, J. K. Goodin and J. IF. Lane toward defraying their expenses thereto, thereat, there- from, in view of an overland route, and the difficulties and expense in- curred in traveling in the present season of the year.
Provided that should Lane, Holliday, Brown and Goodin ascertain that their efficieney would demand of them that they should remain more than thirty days in Washington, that the sum of six dollars per diem shall be issued to said deputation (certificates of indebtedness aforesaid) for the further defraying of their necessary expenses while engaged in their aforesaid duties.
Provided further, that should said deputation leave for Washington
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on or before the 10th of March, A. D. 1856, or as soon thereafter as practicable, the Secretary be instructed to issue the Scrip aforesaid, yet retaining the same in his hands, after the same shall be countersigned, until such time as he may be satisfied the deputation aforesaid will visit Washington.
That the Secretary be farthier instructed to request of M. J. Parrott, Esq., now in Washington City, to have written on parchment ready for certifying upon the arrival of the said deputation, the Constitution of the State of Kansas, that the same may be speedily presented to the Congress of the United States asking the immediate admission of Kansas into the Union.
That the Secretary be further instructed to forward to Mr. Parrott a file of the Herald of Freedom containing the Proclamation, etc., of the Executive Committee, and affording other data to aid him in the prepara- tion of the memorial aforesaid-and that he be requested to remain at Washington till such time as the deputation can reach that point.
Pursuant to this order, Lane left for Washington soon after his election to the United States Senate. He carried with him a copy of the Free-State Constitution. On the 24th day of March, he had it presented to the United States Senate by Lewis Cass. It was attacked by Senator Douglas and withdrawn by Cass. It was presented in the House by Daniel Mace, of Indiana. On the 7th of April, Senator Cass presented the memorial of the Topeka movement asking the admission of Kansas. On the 18th day of April Lane wrote Douglas requesting that he explain a personal allusion to him by Douglas in a speech in the Senate. Mr. Douglas made a long reply. Lane had challenged Doug- las to fight a duel. Douglas declined on the ground that Lane was inferior to him in official rank.
It is enough to say that Congress never did recognize the Topeka Constitution. The dispersal of the Free-State Legislature, at Topeka, on the 4th of July, 1856, by Colonel E. V. Sumner, as directed by the Administration, practically terminated the Topeka movement.
CHAPTER XXVII
WILSON SHANNON
Wilson Shannon succeeded Andrew II. Reeder as Territorial Gov- ernor of Kansas. Shannon was born in what is now Belmont County, Ohio, February 24, 1802. His father moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio at an early date and was frozen to death in the winter of 1803 while on a hunting expedition along the Ohio River. He left seven sons and two daughters. These sons seemed to have been of more than ordinary abil- ity. The eldest, John, was nineteen at the time of his father's death. He immediately went to work to support his widowed mother, and his brothers and sisters. He enlisted as a private in the army in the War of 1812 and rose to the rank of captain.
The second son, George, was a member of the Lewis and Clark expe- dition. On the Upper Missouri, while repelling an Indian attack, he was wounded in the leg. Upon his return it was found necessary that his leg be amputated because of this wound. He superintended the pub- lication of the valuable journals of the expedition, in Philadelphia. There he studied law and was admitted to practice. Later he went to Lexington, Kentucky, where he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. From Lexington he moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he was elected to the State Senate. Afterwards he was appointed United States District Attorney for Missouri. He was defeated for the United States Senate by Thomas II. Benton. He died in August, 1836, in the Court House, while defending a man in a criminal action. Shannon County, Mis- souri, was named for him.
The third son, James, was educated by the efforts of his brother John, and sent to Lexington to study law in the office of his brother George. He became a fine lawyer and a leader in the Democratie party. He mar- ried a daughter of Ex-Governor Shelby. In 1832, the President ap- pointed him to an important position in Central America. He died on the way to his post of duty.
John assisted the fourth son, Thomas, to enter commercial life. He was established as a merchant at Barnesville, Ohio. He was elected to Congress after a second year in the State Legislature.
David, the fifth son, was sent to Lexington to study law in the office of his brother George. He was admitted to the bar and afterward settled in Tennessee. President Jackson appointed him Judge of the Courts of" Florida Territory. He died while arranging his affairs to enter upon his duties there.
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The sixth son was Wilson. His brothers John and Thomas sent him in his nineteenth year to the University of Ohio, at Athens. He re- mained there nearly two years. He was then sent to Lexington, Ken- tucky, to enter the Transylvania University. While there he studied law in the office of his brothers George and James. In 1826 he was admitted to practice, at St. Clairesville, Ohio. He rose rapidly in his profession. When his practice was sufficient to support himself and a wife, he was married to a daughter of Mr. E. Ellis, at that time Clerk of
Gov. WILSON SHANNON
| Copy by Willard of Portrait in Library of Kansas State Historical Society ]
the Circuit Court. Much of his politieal advancement was the result of this marriage. His brothers-in-law were all influential men in Ohio polities. Among them were Honorable William Kennon; Honorable George W. Manypenny, Commissioner of Indian Affairs when Kansas was organized as a Territory; Honorable IIngh J. Jewett; and Honor- able Isaac E. Newton. The influence of these men were exerted in his behalf. In 1832 he was the candidate of the Democratic party of his dis- triet to Congress, and was defeated by General James M. Bell, by only thirty-seven votes. In 1833 he was elected County Attorney for his county. He was re-elected in 1835. IIe was elected Governor of
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Ohio as a Democrat in 1838. He was the party candidate for the same office in 1840, but was defeated by Thomas Corwin. He favored the nomination of General Lewis Cass for the Presideney in 1844. That year he was appointed Minister to Mexico. He returned home on the breaking-out of the Mexican War. Upon the discovery of Gold in Cali- fornia, Governor Shannon went there, in 1849. He remained two years, but accomplished little. returning to Ohio in 1851. In 1852 he was elected to Congress. He approved the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. His approval of these measures made him unpopular in his distriet and he was not a candidate for re- election.
When Reeder was removed, the position of Governor of Kansas Ter- ritory was tendered to John L. Dawson, of Pennsylvania, who deelined it. Shannon was an applicant for the place, and, upon the declination of Dawson, it was given to him. ITis commission was dated August 10, 1855. Ile arrived at Westport, Missouri, September 1st. In an address at Westport, he was reported to have admitted the validity of the laws of the bogus Legislature and to have expressed himself in favor of the establishment of slavery in Kansas Territory. In a communication to the newspapers, the Governor denied that he had uttered these senti- ments, but it was well known that he held the views said to have been expressed by him, and in his artiele of denial he did not disavow them.
Affairs had changed greatly in the Territory during the administra- tion of Governor Reeder. These changes have already been noted. The Missourians had in no wise relinquished their intention of making Kan- sas a slave State. The Free-State people of Kansas had organized the Free-State party and set up a Free-State government. Their actions were denouneed as rebellion, and the people of Missouri were prepared to go, in the future, to much greater lengths than ever before, in order to accomplish their purpose in Kansas. While the South generally, had been much slower to act than had the North, there was a settled convic- tion and unity of purpose there that Kansas should be made a slave State. Organizations in various Southern states, for the purpose of sending Pro-Slavery emigrants into Kansas, had been effected. Many companies were in the process of formation in the winter of 1855-6. South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia were foremost in this promoted migration for political purposes. Major Jefferson Buford, of Enfaula, Alabama, left that place about the 1st of February with two hundred men bound for Kansas Territory. The emigrants from the Southern states were all well armed and formed into military companies. In the month of January the State of Alabama had appropriated $25.000 to "equip and transport emigrants to Kansas." It is supposed that Buford had the benefit of at least a portion of this appropriation. Major Buford arrived at Kansas City, Missouri, in April, with his Alabama companies and large bodies from Georgia and South Carolina. Thus was Mr. Thayer's promoted emigration bearing fruit and being met on the plains of Kansas.
From the organized resistance of the Free-State people, the Kansas
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or Territorial Legislature became known as the "Bogus" Legislature. It will be remembered that the Free-State people of Kansas had taken a position that the Legislature was largely a non-resident body, illegally constituted after an election by fraud. The resolutions passed on the subject of the Territorial Legislature by the Big Springs Convention, fairly represented the position of the Free-State party. While this Legislature was clothed with the vestments of legality and had the out- ward form of a legally constituted body, it will be spoken of hereafter as the Bogus Legislature. Morally it had no right to a minute's exist-
BENJAMIN F. STRINGFELLOW
[Copy by Willard of Portrait in Library of Kansas State Historical Society ]
ence. It was villainously composed, and its purposes and acts repre- hensible to the last degree.
The correspondent of the Missouri Republican furnished a communi- cation to the issue of that paper of July 3, 1855, in which he gave an account of an altercation between General B. F. Stringfellow and Gov- ernor Reeder, which he described as follows:
Yesterday morning Gen. B. F. Stringfellow, of Weston, Mo., pro- ceeded to Governor Reeder's residence, near the Shawnee Mission, and after introducing himself to the Governor, said, "I understand, sir, that
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you have publicly spoken and written of me in the East as a frontier ruffian, and I have called to aseertain whether you have done so."
Gov. R. "I did not so write, or speak of you in public."
Gen. S. "Did you speak of me in those terms anywhere, or at any time ?"
Gov. R. "No, sir."
Gen. S. "Did you use my name at all ?"
Gov. R. "I may have used your name in private conversation."
Gen. S. "Did you use it disrespectfully ? Did you intimate, or insinuate that I was other than a gentleman ?"
Gov. R. "I might have done so."
Gen. S. "Then, sir, you uttered a falsehood, and I demand of you the satisfaction of a gentleman. I very much question your right to that privilege, for I do not believe you to be a gentleman; but I nevertheless give you the opportunity to vindicate your title to that character, by allowing you to select such friends as you may please, and I will do the same, and we will step out here and settle the matter as gentlemen usually do."
Gov. R. "I cannot go. I am no fighting man."
Gen. S. "Then I will have to treat you as I would any other offen- sive animal."
And with that he knocked Reeder down with his fist.
From this incident originated the term, "Border-Ruffian." It was applied to those Missourians, and all the promoted emigration from the South, who took an active part in the effort to force slavery upon Kan- sas. By the Free-State men it was considered an epithet of opprobrium. The Missourians, however, gloried in it. In many Missouri border towns, merchants called their stores and business enterprises, the Bor- der-Ruffian Store, the Border-Ruffian Company, etc.
On the 5th day of November, 1855, Atchison replying to an invita- tion to attend the King's Mountain Celebration, wrote the following letter, in which he complained that the South was slow in responding to the calls for help in the work of establishing slavery in Kansas.
PLATTE CITY, MO., SEPT. 12, 1855.
Gentlemen :- Your letter of invitation, requesting my attendance at the Celebration of the Battle of King's Mountain, has been received. It will be altogether inconvenient for me to be present on that occasion. I have certain duties, both private and public, to discharge at home. The Battle of King's Mountain was fought by the Whigs, under the lead of Campbell, MeDowell, Shelby, Sevier and Williams, against the forces under the gallant Ferguson. We have a similar foe to encounter, in Kansas, on the first Monday in October next-the "border ruffians," such as fought with MeDowell, Shelby, cte., on the one hand, and the Abolitionists, such men as fought with Ferguson, on the other. We (the "border ruffians") have the whole power of the Northern States to con- tend with, single-handed and alone, without assistanec and almost without sympathy from any quarter ; yet we are undismayed. Thus far have we heen victorions ; and with the help of God we will still continue to conquer.
Gentlemen, I thank you for the kind expression in the concluding paragraph of your letter-"three cheers for Atchison and Kansas!" I have read this paragraph to sundry of the "border ruffians," and their eyes sparkle; their arms are nerved. We have been acting on the
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defensive altogether. The contest with us is one of life and death, and it will be so with you and your institution if we fall. Atchison, String- fellow, and the "border ruffians" of Missouri fill a column of each Aboli- tion paper published in the North; abuse most foul and falsehood un- blushing is poured out upon us; and yet we have no advocate in the Southern press-and yet we receive no assistance from the Southern States. But the time will shortly come when that assistance must and will be rendered. The stake the "border ruffians" are playing for is a mighty one. If Kansas is Abolitionized, Missouri ceases to be a slave State, and New Mexico becomes a free State; California remains a free State ; but if we secure Kansas as a slave State, Missouri is secure : New Mexico and Southern California, if not all of it, becomes slave States. In a word, the prosperity or the ruin of the whole South depends on the Kansas struggle.
Your obedient servant. D. R. ATCHISON.
The correspondent of the Cleveland Ohio Leader, writing from Leavenworth, October 2, 1855, gave this forecast of the situation :
These are turbulent times. We are in the commencement of a great battle. The skirmishes we have had are but the scattering drops before the storm that is approaching. The thunders will be upon us unless the PEOPLE of the North rise in their might and say to the Slavery Propagandists and their subservient slaves-the present Administration -THESE OUTRAGES MUST CEASE! We hope to hear the thunders of the voice of the people of Ohio, on the 9th day of October, in the ears of these tyrants. Arouse, Free-men! Slumber not while this black nightmare of Slavery rests upon the bosom of Liberty! Awake! And scare away the grim demon that haunts our rest ! Our hope is in YOU. Our election is appointed for October 9th, the same day of your own. The enemy is preparing to attack us in large forees that day. A band of seventy-five are now approaching our Southern border. The officers of the United States troops stationed in this place, under instructions from headquarters, wink at the villainies of the Missourians and refuse to interfere or protect life, property and liberty. Unless you rebuke and frighten with the thunders of your just indignation this corrupt pro-slavery Administration, we fear that our fate is sealed and this fair land doomed forever to the black curse of Slavery.
These sentiments will serve to show the state of feeling in Kansas Territory in the summer and fall of 1855. The determination of both sides to succeed was rising. The feeling between the Pro-Slavery and Free-State men was inereasing in intensity. Instances of barbarity per- petrated by the Border-Ruffians called forth a demand for retaliation. which added a personal feature to the general conflict.
Governor Shannon established himself at the Shawnee Mission. His office there was known as the Governor's Room. He seemed to ignore entirely the real settlers of Kansas, or, at least, made no effort to meet them and hear their side of the situation. He was surrounded by the Missourians and was imbued with their point of view. Steps must be taken to offset the organization of the Free-State party and the Topeka government.
The task of Governor Shannon was very different from that which the
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slave propaganda had expected of Governor Reeder. In the evolution of the infamous code, they had attempted to render "Abolitionism" impos- sible of existence in Kansas. It could be obeyed by none save a Pro- Slavery community. If the slave laws of this code could be enforced in a town-Lawrence for instance-and the people compelled to live under them and give allegiance to them, they must of necessity become a Pro- Slavery community. Free-State sentiment would eease to exist, or be so stifled as to become impotent and harmless. The position assumed by the party formed by the Free-State men would, if they were permitted to persist in its maintainanee, overthrow the whole structure erected by the bogus Legislature for the establishment of slavery in Kansas Territory. It was not the purpose of the advocates of slavery to passively permit defeat to come so easily to their plans.
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