Medium: Text
Date: January 5, 1860
This letter is from William A. Phillips of Salina, Kansas Territory, to Samuel N. Wood, then serving in the territorial legislature (which had adjourned to Lawrence the previous day),. Phillips…
Medium: Text
Date: November 28, 1859
H. J. Espy, a probate judge in Council Grove, Kansas Territory, writes in response to a letter from Wood, who seemed to have challenged Espy’s earlier “charge” that Wood was…
Medium: Text
Date: November 20, 1859
In this brief but cordial letter written from Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, Halderman asks Wood to reprint an “enclosed” article from the “Herald of Freedom” in the “Kansas Press.” Halderman writes…
Medium: Text
Date: 1906
This handwritten section of Samuel J. Reader’s autobiography, which was based on Reader’s diary from the same period, deals with the “Battle of Indianola,” which occurred on August 30, 1856,…
Medium: Text
Date: Between 1859 and 1860
This document warns the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas Territory, that U.S Marshal Leonard Arms and his “piratical minions” were searching for slaves in Lawrence and urges the citizens to “know…
Medium: Text
Date: March 30, 1858
An address, by James M. Winchell, chairman of the Constitution Convention’s Committee on Remonstrance, against passage of the Lecompton Constitution. The address is formulated as an open letter (“Remonstrance of…
Medium: Text
Date: July, 1858
A generic (place and date left unspecified) broadside to announce a public meeting during which John M. Walden, former editor of the “Quindaro Chinowan,” would speak about the Lecompton Constitution.
Medium: Text
Date: July 17, 1857
This satirical “Proclamation, No. 2, To my rebellious subjects at Lawrence” mocks proslavery Governor Robert J. Walker’s opposition to the independent city charter enacted by the antislavery citizens of Lawrence,…
Medium: Text
Date: July 17, 1857
This extra edition of the “Herald of Freedom” newspaper from Lawrence, Kansas Territory, quotes from proslavery Governor Robert J. Walker’s proclamation against Lawrence’s “rebellion” in creating an independent city charter,…
Medium: Text
Date: February 25, 1859
An appeal to the voters of Lawrence, Kansas Territory, to vote against a new city charter, whose passage would result in endless “wretched laws and enormous taxes.”
Medium: Text
Date: November 28, 1857
Letter from Joseph Walker of Platte City, Missouri, to Major John Dougherty of Liberty, Missouri, urging Dougherty to vote in Kansas on the Lecompton Constitution. A searchable transcription is available…
Medium: Text
Date: July 21, 1858
This 1858 flyer announced the sale of various public lands in Lecompton and Kickapoo, Kansas Territory.
Medium: Text
Date:
An advertisement for Akers, Logan & Company, describing the services it provided as a general land and real estate company in Leavenworth City and Lecompton, Kansas Territory.
Medium: Text
Date: 1856
An advertisement about the services Caleb S. Pratt’s Lawrence Land Agency provided to settlers.
Medium: Text
Date: May 12, 1858
This important document is reportedly a copy of a letter from Charles Robinson, Lawrence, May 12, 1858, to Massachusetts Senator Henry Wilson in which the Kansas governor expresses confidence that…
Medium: Text
Date: 1859
This introduction to the Report of H. J. Strickler, Commissioner to Audit Claims of the Citizens of the Territory of Kansas explains how the claims process worked, including how notices…
Medium: Text
Date: May 5, 1858
Congressman Galusha Aaron Grow, a Pennsylvania Republican, writes Kansas Territory governor Charles Robinson regarding the Lecompton constitution debate and the need to get a large free state vote against the…
Medium: Text
Date: March 5, 1858
Lawrence writes from Boston, Massachusetts, on March 5, 1858, to introduce W. D. Goddard, “an ardent free state man” who wished “to live and die in Kansas.”
Medium: Text
Date: January 11, 1858
This letter, dated Lawrence, January 11, 1858, is most likely from Samuel C. Smith to Charles Robinson. Smith mentions many of the Free State Party’s main actors and issues at…
Medium: Text
Date: 1859
This 1859 abstract of census returns shows information at the township level for most Kansas counties. Some counties are listed without data. The census lists the number of voters in…
Medium: Text
Date: December 26, 1857
Walter Oakley, W. W. Ross, and John Richey write from Topeka, Kansas Territory, to invite Robinson to address the “Mass Meeting” to be held in their city on Monday, December…
Medium: Text
Date: November 29, 1857
From Washington, D.C., Gaius Jenkins, the man who would be shot and killed by Jim Lane on June 3, 1858, writes Robinson regarding an business investment issue (apparently a Wyandotte…
Medium: Text
Date: November 26, 1857
U.S. Senator Henry Wilson (1812-1875), a Republican from Massachusetts who was to become vice president of the United States in 1873, writes Robinson from his home in Natick, Massachusetts, regarding…
Medium: Text
Date: Between 1856 and 1860
These diaries, written by Isaac Goodnow, describe his daily life and his community activities. He settled near Manhattan, Kansas Territory, and was involved in promoting the town and in establishing…
Medium: Text
Date: 1855
This sheet music is for a song about the struggles in the Kansas Territory. Lucy Larcon wrote the words, and E. Ives, Jr. composed the music.
