Lawrence, Kansas

“ While it is the duty of each loyal State to see that equal and exact justice is done to the citizens of every other State, it is equally its duty to sustain the Chief Executive of the Nation in defending the Government from foes, whether from within or without; and Kansas though last and least of the States in the Union, will ever be ready to answer the call of her Country. ”

“ For Kansas people the Civil War meant a continuation of the border troubles. Gangs of ruffians plundered and destroyed property, and frequently committed worse crimes. These acts reached a climax in the destruction of Lawrence on August 21, 1863. The raid on Lawrence was led by Quantrill, a border ruffian who had taken an active part in the guerrilla warfare, and who with his men had sacked several smaller towns along the border. With about four hundred and fifty mounted men Quantrill crossed the border in the late afternoon of August 20, and proceeded toward Lawrence. ”

“ The attack on Lawrence was renewed under the direct authority of the government. Many lives were lost. The United States troops at Leavenworth were used by Shannon. The Free State Legislature was dispersed by the United States forces. Other Missouri forces invaded the Territory and destroyed Brown's village of Osawatomie, but the Free State men compelled them to retreat across the Missouri. In September, President Pierce appointed Gray Governor of Kansas. ”

“ The people of Kansas, while they are willing to fulfill their Constitutional obligations toward their brethren in the sister States to the letter, even to the yielding of the "pound of flesh," cannot look upon the destruction of the fairest and most prosperous Government on earth with indifference. ”

“ Kansas has not only had no Representative in Congress, but the control of the Territorial Government has been with the Federal Administration. While we have furnished our full proportion of revenue to the Federal Treasury, without representation, it is not too much to ask that the expenses of the Territorial Government should be met by that Treasury. In the Act of Admission Congress rejected the ordinance attached to the Constitution, and proposed, instead, to give the State the 16th and 36th sections in each township, for Schools ”

“ Lawrence has been (from the first settlement of Kansas) known and cursed by all slave holders in and out of Mo. for being an abolition town. Missourians have a peculiar faculty for embracing every opportunity to denounce, curse, and blow every thing they dislike. This peculiar faculty of theirs gave Lawrence great notoriety in Mo. especially among the negroes to whom the principal part of their denunciations were directed and on whom they were intended to have great effect. I have learned from negroes who were emigrating from Mo. ”

“ The next moment the door was burst open by twenty or thirty fierce-looking men, armed with bowie-knives and revolvers. Never, out of the infernal pit, was heard such a volley of blasphemy and obscenity, as poured from their foul mouths. The purport of it all was that they had sworn to “wipe out Lawrence;” and that they had come to shoot this “damned Yankee abolitionist,” who had had the impudence to write in the paper that Kansas would yet be a Free State. ”

“ It is comforting to know that "The world do move;" that colored people do freely enjoy in Kansas now the rights Bro. Humber in vain sought of a Free State Legislature then on behalf of his slaves.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The reader has already heard of Big Springs as a locality where Free State Conventions were wont to be held. Lawrence and Topeka were twenty-five miles apart, and both were on the south bank of the Kansas River. Big Springs is midway between these towns, and is situated on the high divide, lying between the Kansas River and the Wakarusa. ”

“ It is customary for Congress to pay the expenses of making one Constitution in all new States, and as it was owing to no fault or action of the people that Kansas was not admitted under the first or third Constitution, but to the failure of Congress to respond to the popular sentiment in the Territory, the General Government should pay the expense incurred in framing them.
The attempt to fasten upon Kansas an institution distasteful to a large majority of the people, in direct violation of the letter and spirit of the Organic Act, caused much suffering and pecuniary loss. ”

“ Affairs in Kansas went from bad to worse. Bands of armed emigrants poured into the state from the south, and such disorder followed that on August 25, 1856, the governor proclaimed the territory in a state of insurrection. On September 14 a force of twenty-five hundred Missourians again attacked Lawrence, but were beaten off. ”

“ With less than 100 men to defend the town of Lawrence, he offered to lead them and give battle to 1,400 men on the banks of the Waukerusia river, and was much vexed when his offer was refused by General Jim Lane and others, to whom the defense of the place was committed. Before leaving Kansas he went into the border of Missouri and liberated a dozen slaves in a single night, and despite of slave laws and marshals, he brought these people through a half dozen States and landed them safe in Canada. ”

“ The citizen who is taxed to defray the expenses of a Government has a right to full protection to life and property, and the power that assumes the Government of a people is responsible for the peace of the same. It is notorious that the peace of Kansas was not preserved by the Government, but on the contrary in many instances the officers were the aggressors. ”

“ LAWRENCE GRIFFIN. A review of the life of the late Lawrence Griffin, of Effingham, Kan., is the story of a poor Irish lad who left his native land, served his adopted country in the Civil war, became a pioneer in Kansas, and was a railroad builder and successful farmer, and in the course of years realized in full his boyhood dream of wealth and position in the great, free land of America. ”

“ They began to acquire experience promptly with the arrival of the first colony; and the authorities all agree, that, during the ensuing three years an area of low political barometer was general throughout the Territory, with a continuous storm center, of great energy, at Lawrence. "By the sharp logic of the revolver and bowie knife, the people of Missouri became the people of Kansas." Residents of Missouri furnished liberal pro-slavery majorities at the elections, and their personal services were available at all times, for the preservation of peace and order in the Territory ”

“ People were coming in from north, east, and south, settling on claims and starting other towns. The principal proslavery towns were Leavenworth, Atchison, and Lecompton. Free-state towns were Lawrence, Topeka, Osawatomie, and Manhattan. Leavenworth and Atchison were both founded by people from Missouri, and, since they were on the Missouri River, came to be outfitting 69 points for travelers over the California and Salt Lake Trails. Lecompton, on the Kansas River, not far from Lawrence, soon became the headquarters of the proslavery people, and for several years was the Territorial capital. ”

“ There were five hundred armed men in Lawrence. Every cabin was a barrack. The Free State Hotel was crowded with men earnestly discussing what measures should be taken for the public safety. General Robinson, pale and anxious, moved among them, renewing his advice to be patient and forbearing. Up to this period, the citizens of Kansas had made no aggressions on their merciless foes, and had used no violence in self-defence. But it was not easy to restrain them now. Human nature had been goaded beyond endurance, and men were in the mood to do, or die. ”

“ A demand is made by certain States, that new concessions and new guaranties be made to Slavery, or the Union must be destroyed. The present Constitution, however faithfully adhered to, is declared to be incompatible with the existence of Slavery: its change is demanded, or the Government under it must be overthrown. If it is true that the continued existence of Slavery requires the destruction of the Union, it is time to ask if the existence of the Union does not require the destruction of Slavery. ”

“ During the contest in Kansas, Lawrence wrote frequently to President Pierce (his mother’s nephew) in behalf of the free-state settlers; and when John Brown was arrested he appealed to the governor of Virginia to secure for him a lawful trial. On Robinson and others in Kansas he repeatedly urged the necessity of offering no armed resistance to the Federal government; and he deplored Brown’s fanaticism. In 1858 and in 1860 he was the Whig candidate for governor of Massachusetts. ”

“ It will be seen that this was a clear and palpable violation of the plan of procedure which the free State men had agreed upon among themselves, and this act made Kansas for three years a dark and bloody ground, and concentrated on this Territory the eyes of the whole nation. Of the rescuing party only three were citizens of Lawrence. Sam Wood was in his element. He was a man overflowing with patriotism, yet succeeded in doing more harm to his friends than to his enemies. ”

“ In the Civil War Kansas sent into the field a larger number of soldiers, in proportion to its population, than any other State. The eastern part of the State lay exposed to the incursions of Confederates from Missouri. On August 23, 1863, Quantrell's guerrillas raided the town of Lawrence and killed a large number of the inhabitants. The cessation of war was followed immediately by a great influx of immigrants, who swept steadily westward, unchecked by the repeated assaults of the hostile Indian tribes. ”

“ He was forced to flee to Lawrence for protection during the border war, and bore arms in defense of that place against the invasion of the pro-slavery men. He was a member of the Leavenworth constitutional convention; was active in the organization of the free-state party in Atchison county, of which he was elected the first probate judge in the spring of 1858. ”

“ Of these papers the most important was The Herald of Freedom, the first issue of which, though dated at Wakarusa, Kansas, October 21, 1854, was printed in Pennsylvania: the second was published at Lawrence on January 6, 1855. Second was The Kansas Free State, begun in January, 1855. On May 21, 1856, when Border Ruffians attacked Lawrence, they dumped the press, type, books, papers, etc., of The Free State into the street and did practi- cally the same thing for The Herald of Freedom, but in addition set the building on fire. ”

“ If the issue is presented to them---the overthrow of the Union, or the destruction of Slavery---they will not long hesitate as to their choice. But it is to be hoped that this issue will be withdrawn, and the Nation still go on in its career of prosperity and power---the just pride of every citizen, and envy of the world. ”

“ The struggle of the pioneers with the hardships of winter closed hostilities for a while, but it soon became evident that the Missourians were preparing more extensively than ever to invade Kansas, destroy Lawrence, and drive the free-state people from the Territory, or force them to recognize the proslavery Territorial Government. ”

“ Lawrence, of Boston, are a sufficient guarantee in the estimation of intelligent men against it being engaged in any fanatical enterprise. Its stockholders are composed of men of all political parties except Abolitionists. I am not aware that it has received the patronage of that class of our fellow-citizens, and I am informed that some of them disapprove of its proceedings. ”

“ The past year has been one of unprecedented drouth and consequent scarcity in Kansas. Our farmers, encouraged by the bountiful return for labor bestowed upon the soil in years past, had an unusual quantity of land under cultivation. With an ordinary supply of rain, a large amount of produce would have been raised for export, and no people would have been more highly favored than our own. ”

“ The decisions of the court were generally satisfactory to the settlers, and enforced by Maj. Abbott and a minister named Stewart, known as the fighting preacher. Several town sites were laid out, but with two exceptions the towns failed to become important. Garnett and Greeley were both surveyed in 1856 and became flourishing communities. In Dec., 1856, a party of 80 men was formed in Lawrence for the purpose of settling in Anderson county. ”

“ It is a serious detriment to the revenue and prosperity of any State, to have within it large tracts of land not subject to taxation, and more especially to a new State. Should Kansas relinquish the right to tax the Public Lands, a fair equivalent should be granted. While no exorbitant demands should be made, and the most friendly relations to the Federal Government be cherished, it is the right and duty of the Legislature to ask such terms as are just and equitable. ”

“ In Feb., 1855, Lawrence was denounced because it was “the home of about 400 abolitionists,” and at a Law and Order meeting at Leavenworth on the 15th of the following November, John Calhoun said: “You yield and you will have the most infernal government that ever cursed a land. ”

“ If the State has sufficient credit, it would be better to use it for the relief of her citizens, should it be necessary, than longer live upon the generosity of others. Seed has already been furnished in abundance, for spring planting, and by the first of June the stock that abounds upon our prairies will be suitable for food ”

“ As all laws or parts of laws in force in the Territory, at the time of our admission, not inconsistent with the Constitution, remain in force until they expire or shall be repealed, it may not be necessary or expedient for the Legislature to act upon all the subjects above enumerated at its first session. It is made the duty of the first Legislature, however, to provide for an apportionment of the members of the Legislature, and for submitting the question of permanent location of the Capital to a vote of the people. ”