Kansas Chautauqua Timeline: 1859-1861

1859

July—The fourth and last constitutional convention assembles at Wyandotte, now part of Kansas City. Clarina Nichols is the only woman present. Due to Nichols’ lobbying, the constitution includes three sections she drafted: women’s rights in child custody, women’s admission to the state university, and women’s right to vote in school elections. With free state advocates in control, the document also bars slavery and fixes the present boundaries of the state. A popular vote in October approved the constitution, followed by the election of provisional state government in December.

October 16—John Brown and followers raid Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

December 2—John Brown executed at Charlestown, Virginia.

December—Abraham Lincoln visits Kansas. He speaks in Elwood, Troy, Atchison, and Leavenworth in support of those fighting against slavery. Historians have called these addresses his first campaign speeches for the presidency. Lincoln receives national attention in 1858 for his debates with Stephen Douglas. Both were running for Senate from Illinois.

1860

February 23—The legislature passes a bill abolishing slavery in Kansas, over Governor Samuel Medary’s veto.

November 6—Abraham Lincoln elected president.

December 20—South Carolina secedes from the Union.

1861

January 29—Kansas admitted into the Union as the 34th state as a free state. Topeka became the state Capitol.

April—Civil War: Answering President Lincoln’s first call for troops in April, Kansas supplies 650 men. Before the war ended in 1865, Kansas contributed 20,097 men to the Union Army, a remarkable record as the population included less than 30,000 men of military age.

1863

August 21, 1863—William Quantrill, confederate guerilla leader, led 450 men in a raid upon Lawrence, killing 150 men out of 2,000 residents and burning 100 homes and businesses. The raiders sacked and burned the center area of the town, inflicting about $1.5 million worth of damage. Quantrill targeted Lawrence because it was the center of Kansas abolitionism.

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