LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION, in Kansas history a form of territorial govern ment, adopted by a convention held at Lecomp ton, Kan., in 1857, the legality of which in both form and action became a matter of dispute and caused national discussion and Congres sional action. For several years prior to 1857 the slave question had agitated the territory, and numerous bloody quarrels between the Free State settlers and the Missourians who came across the border into Kansas added fuel to the strife. In June 1857 the territorial legis lature, composed entirely of pro-slavery men, chosen at an election at which the Free-State men had declined to participate on the ground of its illegality, met at Lecompton, and among other acts passed one providing for the election of a convention to frame a State constitution for Kansas. Meanwhile Congress had passed a bill declaring void all the enactments of the Kansas legislature on the ground that they were cruel and oppressive. The election for dele gates to the constitutional convention was held 15 June, but the Free-State men took no part in it. Only 2,000 votes were cast, while the legal voters in the Territory numbered 10,000. The constitutional convention met at Lecompton in November and adopted a constitution, four sections of which related to slavery, declaring the rights of owners to their slaves to be in violable and prohibiting the legislature from passing acts of emancipation. This provision alone was to be submitted to the people at an election to be held 21 December. The ballots cast were to be endorsed: °Constitution with slavery,* or "Constitution with no slavery,* thus securing in any event the adoption of a constitution, several clauses of which, besides those submitted, were highly objectionable to a majority of the people. A provision was in
serted preventing any amendment to the con stitution previous to 1864. The promulgation of this constitution caused great excitement in Kansas.
At the election 21 December the vote re turned was 6143, more than one-half of which was from the counties along the Missouri border, whose total number of voters by the census did not exceed 1,000. Against the slavery clause there were but 569 votes, the Free-State men generally abstaining from voting. The constitution being thus nominally adopted, an election for officers under it was to be held 4 January. At a special session the legislature passed an act submitting the Le compton constitution to the direct vote of the people on the same day with the State election, and the result was 10,226 votes against it. Con gress after a long discussion referred the matter to the people of Kansas at an election on 3 Aug. 1858, when the Lecompton constitution was again rejected by 10,000 majority. Mean while the territorial legislature had called an other convention to meet in April to frame a new constitution, which was submitted to the people and ratified by a large majority, though by a small total vote. The territorial legislature met in January 1859 and passed an act submitting to the people question of calling still an other constitutional convention. Delegates were elected, and at a convention which met from 5 July to 27 July a constitution was finally adopted which prohibited slavery. This was ratified by a majority of 4,000 at the election 4 October, and the slavery question was at last settled and Kansas was admitted to the Union as a State, 29 Jan. 1861. See also KANSAS;