that was the very first constitution that was written in kansas. the second constitution, and we are looking at the title page of the famous lecompton constitution. that was written in the fall of 18357 in le compton, kansas, inside samuel jones' wood frame commercial building. this constitution, lecompton, would have made kansas a slave state. it was endorsed by president james buchanan from pennsylvania he was a northern man but he was strong pro slavery. his predecessor was franklin pierce from concord new hampshire. even though he was from new england, he was also a strong pro slavery man. the democratic party in the

1850s controlled by the southern influence, strong pro slavery. what president buchanan was not counting on is steven a. douglas, the father of the kansas territory. he believed in the concept of popular sovereignty let the will of the people be spoken. stephen douglas was outraged by the lecompton constitution. when the lecompton constitution arrived in washington, douglas got on the floor of the senate and called the lecompton constitution a swindle and a fraud. it did not represent popular sovereignty, it did not represent the role of the people. this constitution was debated in the halls of congress. the u.s. senate, which was controlled by southerners, did pass it. they ratified it. it got to the u.s. house, which is more northern influence, when it got to the u.s. house, it was

so -- the debate was so rancorous, that in february of 1858, late one night while this constitution was being debated in the u.s. house of representatives, a brawl broke out. over 50 congressmen were brawling on the floor of the u.s. house and supposedly, the only thing that broke them up was a rather humorous event. two u.s. congressmen from wisconsin grabbed the hairpiece of the congressman from mississippi and tore it off his head and they held it high above their head and said, we have scalped a man. and the congressman stopped the brawl. that is what was going on in washington. a fistfight and brawl in the u.s. house of representatives over the lecompton constitution.

while the lecompton constitution was being debated in congress, the free staters were busy writing a second constitution. this is the leavenworth constitution. it is unique in that the leavenworth constitution, written in 1858, does not contain the word white or white men. out of the three free state constitutions, this leavenworth was probably the most progressive, most radical constitution in that it gave african-americans voting rights. kansas fourth and final constitution, the wyandotte constitution was signed by president and literally on his way out of office. kansas enters the union january 29, 1861, as a free state. what we are looking at is a letter composed by the famous

militant abolitionist in kansas territory, john brown senior. it is known as john brown's parallel. it was published in january of 1859, and this letter was written with the intent for it to be published in a lawrence newspaper that was basically john brown paralleling to incidents in kansas and justifying his actions in missouri. two plantations were attacked by john brown and his sons and followers, and one slave master was murdered. john brown in this letter, said that earlier, in 1858, in may of '58, 11 to 12 free state men were taken prisoner herded down into a ravine and shot down by pro slavery men.

this became known as the infamous meridizine massacre. five of those men died. and in this parallel, john brown is saying after the death of this one slave master, hell has stirred from beneath to quote john brown. the governor of missouri president of the united states james buchanan, issued a reward for the capture of john brown for the death, the murder of this slave master in missouri. john brown argues that nothing has been done to bring these pro slavery men that slaughtered these five free statemen at massacre to justice. that is why it is known as john brown's parallel. abraham lincoln, when he visited in 1859, said, you know, no other territories had a history like kansas.

it is a state historical society to see these documents in person, that they have survived 150 plus years is pretty remarkable. the constitutions that have survived, the documents that are still here, and the state historical society does a great job of putting these documents online. so you can access these territorial period documents from anywhere in the world with a computer. in 1854, all eyes were on kansas. because congress had passed a law creating a kansas-nebraska territory and opening up areas of the united states that had formally been set aside as nonslavery, that it was possible for slavery to be -- to grow and develop in kansas. as a consequence, that set in

motion a tremendous competition between those folks who wanted to expand slavery and those folks who wanted to put it on a course of ultimate extinction. as a result, everybody was concerned about kansas. if you were for slavery, you want to make sure that kansas would become like missouri, a slave state. if you were opposed to slavery, you wanted to make sure that no new opportunities were opened up. this movement into the territory that was created by congress in 1854 becomes the headline for the next decade. then illustrate it becomes all-out war. first, missouri moves into kansas to set up institutions through the process of voting and creating a kansas territory

legislature that would have created laws that would favor and support slavery. once that happened, it becomes a competition and people who want to make sure that kansas does not become a slave state start pouring in, as well. we are sitting in a house here in topeka that was built by one of those people who came to kansas in 1855, the first part of 1855 with the intent that he was going to stop the spread of slavery. this was don richie who brought his family from franklin indiana, in march of 1855 just three months after the town of topeka was established. he becomes a very active -- an activist in the free state cause.

beginning by the fall of 1855, these rival forces are each creating their own towns. to come see is a community established by folks for slavery. it's five miles east of topeka. it was the scene of pro slavery folks. then when holiday and the people that his group found topeka in december of 1854, they come with the notion that they're going to have a free state town. that is just five miles apart. all up and down the kansas river, you have these communities, one is a free state community as opposed to lecompton which is a pro slavery community. and they hope, each one, to run the other one out.

one of the things that missouri does, for instance, they bring all sorts of malicious into kansas and identify lawrence as a community that is settled by new england anti-slavery people. so an army literally comes into consistentance from all these militias coming into kansas and identify lawrence as a community. the so-called war in 1855 is the result. what is interesting about that effort to eradicate lawrence and to drive all of the anti-slavery people out of the territory,

this conflict right outside of lawrence in december of 1855, is that the antislavery people likewise mobilized. for instance, a militia here in topeka goes to lawrence to defend lawrence. and so people -- and john brown and his family come up from -- to lawrence to help defend lawrence. so you have all of these people in the kansas territories that are coming together at lawrence and they -- and the pro slavery people sort of reinforce one another and the anti-slavery people all reinforce one another. and that new network is created and as a result of the various anti-slavery people coming together. john richie, for instance, meets john brown. they become associates in this whole resistance to the efforts

of the missouri institute to control the territory and promote and extend slavery. this house was -- i think this house -- we don't know exactly when it was built, but this house was built in that summer and fall of 1856. this wall, which is right behind me, is an example, i think, of the intense conflict that was going on. structurally, the wall does not do anything for holding the floors up or anything like that. but it's -- someone went to a lot of trouble to haul all that rock in here and put this wall in from the basement up to the ceiling here on the first floor. i think that it was built because ooh a need to reinforce the exterior walls because you've got these pro slavery people who have got cannons and they're running around you and