the united states. to imagine what it must be like to be a 16-year-old boy or girl and be confronted by a mob is what the hall of courage is intended to re-create, and is probably one of the most visceral parts of the museum here. one of the things that we are here to do is help engage in dialogue about these kinds of issue, because they are ongoing and continuous. there are new court cases and groups that are constantly struggling for better access, equal access to civil rights. the mission of the national parks service is to preserve our country's heritage, and we do not build seems about subjects that are important. we preserve places that were integral to that store, because we believe why preserving that these of our heritage, even if they are difficult stories to visitors, whether from the u.s. or abroad, whether they are

caucasian or african-american, you better understand the story when you're standing in the place where these events actually happened. there is something intangible in these places that you can feel the history resonating by being in these places that were an important part of history. next, a history of the state of kansas before it was admitted to the union. we will see early versions of the constitutions, a map, and a letter written by abolitionist john brown. the state historical collect kansas history documents, and this is the repository for kansas history. today in the archives we will territorial-period

matt, documents written by john senior, a territorial manuscript of the constitution, and a variety of items related to territorial issues in kansas. the territorial period in kansas began in 1854 and ran for seven years. kansas was attempting to become a state. this time became known as bleeding kansas, very controversial. it is not only in the territory of kansas, but nationally, the eyes of the country were focused on what was going on out here in territorial kansas. kansas at the nickname bleeding kansas because the struggle of whether kansas would enter the union as a free state or a slave state. map ofgoing to look at a

kansas and nebraska territories. this is 1856. in 1854, the kansas-nebraska act was signed, creating the territories of kansas and nebraska. those people assumed, washington theticians assumed kansas-nebraska act would probably somewhat replicate the missouri compromise in that if you brought in twin territories, , theould be naturally free other naturally would be slave. most people assumed that the new territory of nebraska would be settled by the free state of iowa. would come in, set up a government cannot write a free state constitution bring the breast in as a free state, and twoaska would send

northern senators to congress. conversely, misery, a slave state, over 100,000 slaves, most people thought missourians would come into kansas, set up a government, and write a constitution and come in, kansas would come in as a slave state, and kansas would send two southern senators to washington and you would keep an equilibrium in the u.s. senate. they assumed wrongly. the kansas-nebraska act was called upon by abolitionists, particularly those in the east, new english state. northern abolitionists were outraged by the kansas-nebraska act. they hated slavery come abolitionists did, but they t with ith it -- deal

as long as it was stay below 36 '30'. abolitionists, from massachusetts, connecticut, rhode island, ohio, new york, stoppoured into kansas to kansas from becoming a slave state. yankeesans solve these pouring into kansas territory. they knew they were going to have a fight on their hands. in the mixture of abolitionists and pro-slavery mingling together in the kansas territory , the territory exploded in violence. , attractedrrorism men like john brown and his sons, and starting in 1854, a

pre civil war began, and it was nicknamed bleeding kansas. warfare was going on in kansas territory. this is over who would control this new territory. the next that is to create a legislature. then write a constitution that is approved by the voters of the territory, and then it will be sent to washington for andfication by congress, finally, signed by the president of the united states. 1/2 years kansas was a territory, there were four

attempts at constitution writing. the free state government wrote themselves a free state constitution, the topeka constitution. it was sent to washington for approval, and it was rejected. by the way, most people thought that the constitution had been lost forever. 2013, in the national archives, they rediscovered the topeka constitution, so it is an washington, d.c., at the national archives. in 1855, there was an election for the first territorial legislation. 1855.as in march of the first governor of kansas wisely decided to do a census of the territory to discover how many legal voters there were, eader discovered there were 2905 legal voters, white male

and 21. butng fraud on both sides, more on the pro-slavery side. asse, missourians crossed the kansas line, walked across it or took a very but across the missouri river and took over the electionan off the judges, stuff the ballot boxes, created a pro-slavery legislature. it was known as the bogus legislature. iny crafted the first laws 1855, the statute of kansas, which were republican to the free state, particularly the clause that protects slave property. 1850, kansases of territory, stated that do speak out against slavery to write articles and publish articles writtenes any critical oft were

slavery, was a felony. holding -- if you were caught holding a copy of cabin" was a's felony. it was the to be a constitution that was written by free state men and abolitionists. to be written in downtown got on kansas avenue, the 400 block. the building is still there today. oldest standing building in to begin. it was known as constitution hall and to begin. when the to be constitution got to washington, the national democratic administration, which was pro-slavery, said this was not a legitimate government. it was not a legitimate constitutional convention. they rejected it out of hand.

at the time in the u.s. congress, the house of representatives was now controlled by northerners, free stators. they approved the to be get constitution -- that the pickup constitution, but the u.s. senate refused to even discuss the topeka constitution. so it died in washington. that was the very first constitution that was written in kansas. and weond constitution are looking at the title page of lecompton constitution, that was written in the fall of 1857 in lecompton, kansas, inside samuel building.odframe this constitution 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 proslavery. his predecessor was franklin pierce, president franklin pierce, from concord, new hampshire. a strong pro-slavery mantra. the democratic party in the by thecontrolled southern influence, strong proslavery. what president buchanan was not counting on is stephen a douglas, the father of kansas in thery, who believed concept of popular sovereignty, let the will of the people bespoke. 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, did not represent the will of the people. this constitution was ferociously debated in the halls of congress. the u.s. senate which was didrolled by southerners, pass it, the ratified it. it got to the u.s. house, was more the northern influence. when it got to the u.s. house, 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, april broke out. brawl50 congressman -- a broke out. over 50 congressman were involved, and the only thing that wrote them up was a rather humorous event. two u.s. congressman from wisconsin grabbed the hair piece of a congressman from tore it off his

head, held it high above h is head, and said, we scout the men. the congressman stop the brawl. that was what was going on in washington. constitution.he while the constitution was being debated, the free-stators were busy writing his second institution, the leavenworth constitution, and it is unique in that the leavenworth constitution, written in 1858, does not contain the word "white." out of the three free state leavenworth ishe the most progressive, most radical constitution in that it gave african-americans voting rights. fourth and final constitution, the wyandotte constitution, is signed by president james buchanan,

literally on his way out of office. januarynters the union 20 9, 1861, as a free state. what we are looking at is a letter composed by the famous militant abolitionist in the kansas territory, john brown sr., and it is known as john brown parallels. it was published in january of 1859, and this letter was written with the intent for it to be published in a newspaper. it was basically john brown's paralleling two incidents in bleeding 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.

lettern brown in this said earlier in 1858, may of 1858, 11 to 12 pre-state men were taken prisoner, herded into a ravine, and shot down as pro--slavery men. this is known as a massacre. five of those men died. in this parallel, john brown is after the death of this --the governorr of missouri, the 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 nothing has bring these pro-slavery men that slaughtered tose five pre-state men justice, and that is why it is known as john brown's parallels. abraham lincoln, when he visited in 1859, said no other territory has had a history like kansas. at the state historical society can 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-peroid documents from anywhere in the world. now we visit the home of ces