What was the original Constitution of the state of Kansas?
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF KANSAS. The Kansas Constitution was originally known as the Wyandotte Constitution and was the fourth constitution proposed by the Territorial Legislature. President James Buchanan signed the bill into law on January 29, 1861, making Kansas the 34th state to enter the Union.
How did Kansas become a Free State in 1860?
In April, 1860, the United States House of Representatives voted to admit Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution. The Senate was still just as opposed to a new free state, and no action was taken until January of 1861, when senators from the seceding slave states abandoned their seats.
How did Kansas become the 34th state?
Ironically, it was President James Buchanan, a man despised by most free state settlers in Kansas, who signed the bill making Kansas the 34th state on January 29, 1861. The joy over the adoption of the Wyandotte Constitution and the imminent prospects for statehood where tempered somewhat in late 1859 and 1860 by a severe drought and famine.
What was the date of the Kansas Constitution Convention?
The so-called "bogus" legislature convened at Pawnee on July 2, 1855. Freestaters gathered in convention at Lawrence on August 14 and Big Springs on September 5, and delegates assembled at Topeka on October 23, 1855, to draft a constitution. The document was approved on December 15 by a vote of 1,731 to 46.
What constitution did Kansas become a state?
On January 21, 1861, the U.S. Senate finally approves the Wyandotte Constitution, which will admit Kansas into the Union as a free state.
What was the first constitution of Kansas?
Four different constitutions were proposed when Kansas became a territory: the Topeka constitution (1855), the Lecompton constitution (1857), the Leavenworth constitution (1858) and the Wyandotte constitution (1859).
What constitution made Kansas a free state?
the Wyandotte ConstitutionA bill for Kansas's admission was introduced on February 12, 1860. Within two months, the congressmen voted 134 to 73 to admit Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution. William H. Seward of New York introduced a separate bill in the Senate on February 21, 1860.
How many constitutions did Kansas pass?
Because of tensions over slavery, four quite different constitutions of Kansas were drafted.
Was the Topeka Constitution passed?
The Topeka Constitution marked the first effort to form a Kansas governmental structure and define its basis in law. Free-State delegates passed the constitution on December 15, 1855.
When was the Kansas State Constitution written?
January 29, 1861CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF KANSAS The Kansas Constitution was originally known as the Wyandotte Constitution and was the fourth constitution proposed by the Territorial Legislature. President James Buchanan signed the bill into law on January 29, 1861, making Kansas the 34th state to enter the Union.
How did Kansas became a free state?
Kansas Entered the Union as a Free State. Kansas entered the union as a "free state," because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act that allowed the residents to decide if their state would allow slavery.
What did the Topeka Constitution do?
The Topeka Constitution that resulted banned slavery; the question of admitting free blacks into the state was submitted to a popular vote as a separate issue. On December 15, antislavery Kansans ratified the Constitution and by a three-to-one margin voted to exclude free blacks from the territory.
When did Kansas become a free state?
January 29, 1861On January 29, 1861, Kansas is admitted to the Union as free state. It was the 34th state to join the Union. The struggle between pro- and anti-slave forces in Kansas was a major factor in the eruption of the Civil War.
Was the Lecompton Constitution passed?
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. However, it never went into effect.
How is the Kansas constitution changing?
There are two basic methods of amending the state constitution. However, both methods require that a two-thirds majority in the Kansas House of Representatives and the Senate are in favor of revising or amending the constitution.
Why was the Wyandotte Constitution Important?
Drawn up at Wyandotte (now part of Kansas City) in July 1859, it rejected slavery and suffrage for women and blacks but affirmed property rights for women. The document was approved in a referendum by a vote of about 10,000 to 5,000 (Oct. 4, 1859).
Who created the Lecompton Constitution?
The Lecompton Constitution was drafted by pro-slavery advocates and included provisions to protect slaveholding in the state and to exclude free people of color from its bill of rights.
What did the Topeka Constitution do?
The Topeka Constitution that resulted banned slavery; the question of admitting free blacks into the state was submitted to a popular vote as a separate issue. On December 15, antislavery Kansans ratified the Constitution and by a three-to-one margin voted to exclude free blacks from the territory.
Why was the Wyandotte Constitution Important?
Drawn up at Wyandotte (now part of Kansas City) in July 1859, it rejected slavery and suffrage for women and blacks but affirmed property rights for women. The document was approved in a referendum by a vote of about 10,000 to 5,000 (Oct. 4, 1859).
Why was the Topeka Constitution Important?
The Topeka Constitution called for Kansas territorial citizens to alter their form of government, overthrow an oppressive regime, and repel foreign invaders.
When did Kansas become a free state?
On the same day the last of them left, January 21, 1861, the Senate passed the Kansas bill. Kansas's admission as a free state became effective January 29, 1861. The Wyandotte Constitution has remained until the present (2021) Kansas's state constitution.
Why is Kansas a state?
Under U.S. law, a state requires a constitution. A main order of business for Territorial Kansas was the creation of a constitution, under which Kansas would become a state. Whether it would be a slave state or a free state, allowing or prohibiting slavery, was a national issue, because it would affect voting in the polarized U.S. Senate.
What is the Leavenworth Constitution?
Leavenworth Constitution. Main article: Leavenworth Constitution. Text of the Leavenworth Constitution. In the 1856 election the free-staters achieved a majority in the legislature, and they called for another constitutional convention, to head off approval of the Lecompton Constiutution. It met in March 1858 first in Mineola, then in Leavenworth.
When was the Wyandotte Constitution passed?
The Wyandotte Constitution was approved by territorial referendum on October 4, 1859. In April, 1860, the United States House of Representatives voted to admit Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution.
Which article of the Constitution explicitly allowed slavery?
The LeCompton Constitution explicitly allowed slavery, the subject of an entire article (Article 7). It was approved in a rigged election in December of 1857, but it was overwhelmingly defeated in a second vote in January 1858 by a majority of voters in the Kansas Territory. It was sent to Washington anyway.
What was the Kansas Constitution?
The Kansas Constitution was originally known as the "Wyandotte Constitution." It was the fourth constitution voted on by the people of the Kansas Territory as settlers and the federal government battled over whether or not the state would allow slavery. This final constitution established Kansas as a free state.
What is the current constitution of Kansas?
Although amended several times, the Wyandotte constitution stands as the current constitution of Kansas.
What is the Bill of Rights in Kansas?
The "Bill of Rights" of the Kansas Constitution comes between the Preamble and Article 1. It prescribes the rights of the citizens and sets up Kansas as a free state.
Which article of the Kansas Constitution is executive?
Article 1 of the Kansas Constitution is labeled "Executive."
How many articles are there in the Kansas Constitution?
The Kansas Constitution consists of 15 articles.
When did Kansas join the Union?
On January 21, 1861, with Confederate states seceding from the Union and their senate seats left vacant, the remaining senators passed the Kansas bill admitting the state into the Union. Although amended several times, the Wyandotte constitution stands as the current constitution of Kansas.
When was Kansas incorporated into the United States?
The Wyandotte Constitution was approved in an October 4, 1859 referendum by a vote of 10,421 to 5,530. In April 1860, the United States House of Representatives voted to admit Kansas as a state under the Wyandotte Constitution despite resistance from the United States Senate.
What was the Kansas Constitution?
The Kansas Constitution was originally known as the Wyandotte Constitution and was the fourth constitution proposed by the Territorial Legislature. President James Buchanan signed the bill into law on January 29, 1861, making Kansas the 34th state to enter the Union.
When was the Constitution drafted?
The Constitution of the United States is the fundamental law of the United States, drafted in Philadelphia in 1787, ratified in 1788, and put into effect in 1789. A constitution gives the government enough power to declare the actions of a majority illegal if those actions violate the rights of the minority as established in the Constitution.
What is the first section of the Kansas Constitution?
The decision, in which one of the seven justices dissented, cites in its first sentence the first section of the Kansas Constitution's Bill of Rights: "All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.".
Who said the rights of women in Kansas were not limited to those specifically intended by the men who drafted our state'?
Writing for the faction voting to strike down the ban, Judge Steve A. Leben said that the "rights of Kansas women in 2016 are not limited to those specifically intended by the men who drafted our state's constitution in 1859.". Then-Gov. Sam Brownback issued a statement saying he was "deeply disappointed in the court's decision to allow ...
What is the law in Kansas that prohibits abortion?
The law known as the Kansas Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act prohibits dilation and evacuation abortions except when necessary to preserve the life of the mother, prevent impairment of a major bodily function of the mother or where the fetus is already dead.
What is the D&E abortion in Kansas?
The law was the first in the nation to ban the procedure, which is used for nearly all second-trimester abortions. The procedure only accounts for 9 percent of abortions in Kansas. Anti-abortion-rights activists call it "dismemberment abortion," but it is known medically as dilation and evacuation, or D&E.
Why didn't Kansas protect abortion rights?
The state countered that the Kansas Constitution could not protect abortion rights because abortion was largely illegal when the document was drafted in 1859. Before the mid-1990s, Kansas was one of the least abortion-restrictive states in the country.
When did Kansas ban abortions?
Kansas passed a ban on dilation and evacuation abortions in 2015.
Who challenged the abortion ban in Kansas?
The court took up the question of a constitutional right to abortion after two abortion providers in Overland Park, Kan., doctors Herbert Hodes and his daughter, Traci Nauser, challenged a ban on dilation and evacuation abortions passed by the Legislature in 2015. The law known as the Kansas Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act ...
Overview
Wyandotte Constitution
Text of Wyandotte Constitution
The convention met July 5, 1859 in the former community of Wyandotte, today part of Kansas City, Kansas. The Wyandotte Constitution was approved by territorial referendum on October 4, 1859. In April, 1860, the United States House of Representatives voted to admit Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution. The Senate was still just as opposed to a new free state, and no action …
Topeka Constitution
Text of the Topeka Constitution
The Topeka Constitutional Convention met in opposition to the first territorial legislature, from which free-staters had been excluded, and that they called "bogus". It adopted the Topeka Constitution on December 15, 1855, which was approved territory-wide on January 15, 1856. Under this constitution, free Blacks were excluded from Kansas; the "Black exclusion" was voted on se…
Lecompton Constitution
Text of the Lecompton Constitution
The Territorial Legislature met in Lecompton in September of 1856 to prepare a rival document. The LeCompton Constitution explicitly allowed slavery, the subject of an entire article (Article 7). It was approved in a rigged election in December of 1857, but it was overwhelmingly defeated in a second vote in January 1858 by a majority of voters in the Kansas Territory.
Leavenworth Constitution
Text of the Leavenworth Constitution
In the 1856 election the free-staters achieved a majority in the legislature, and they called for another constitutional convention, to head off approval of the Lecompton Constiutution. It met in March 1858 first in Mineola, then in Leavenworth. This constitution, the most liberal of the four, was sent to Congress in January 1859, but Congress took no action.
See also
• Bleeding Kansas
• Constitution Hall (Lecompton, Kansas)
• Constitution Hall (Topeka, Kansas)
Further reading
• Heller, Francis H (1992). Kansas State Constitution : A reference guide. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780313265105.