See HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
KANAWHA, Battle of the Great.
See OHIO (VALLEY): A. D. 1774.
KANAWHA, The proposed State of.
See WEST VIRGINIA: A. D. 1862 (APRIL-DECEMBER).
KANAWHAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.
KANDHS, The.
See INDIA: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.
----------KANSAS: Start--------
KANSAS:
The aboriginal inhabitants.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY,
and PAWNEE (CADDOAN) FAMILY.
KANSAS: A. D. 1803.
Mostly embraced in the Louisiana Purchase.
See LOUISIANA: A. D. 1798-1803.
KANSAS: A. D. 1854.
Territorial organization.
The Kansas-Nebraska Bill.
Repeal of the Missouri Compromise.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1854.
KANSAS: A. D. 1854-1859.
The battle-ground of the struggle against Slavery-extension.
Border-ruffians and Free State settlers.
"The attention of the whole country had now been turned to the
struggle provoked by the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and the repeal
of the Missouri Compromise. The fertile soil of Kansas had
been offered as a prize to be contended for by Free and Slave
States, and both had accepted the contest. The Slave State
settlers were first in the field. The slave-holders of Western
Missouri, which shut off Kansas from the Free States, had crossed
the border, preempted lands, and warned Free State immigrants
not to pass through Missouri.
{1937}
The first election of a delegate to Congress took place
November 29th, 1854, and was carried by organized bands of
Missourians, who moved over the border on election day, voted,
and returned at once to Missouri. The spring election of 1855,
for a Territorial Legislature, was carried in the same
fashion. In July, 1855, the Legislature, all Pro-Slavery, met
at Pawnee, and adopted a State Constitution. To save trouble
it adopted the laws of the State of Missouri entire, with a
series of original statutes denouncing the penalty of death
for nearly fifty offenses against Slavery. All through the
spring and summer of 1855 Kansas was the scene of almost
continuous conflict, the Border Ruffians of Missouri
endeavoring to drive out the Free State settlers by murder and
arson, and the Free State settlers retaliating. The cry of
'bleeding Kansas' went through the North. Emigration societies
were formed in the Free States to aid, arm, equip, and protect
intending settlers. These, prevented from passing through
Missouri, took a more Northern route through Iowa and
Nebraska, and moved into Kansas like an invading army. The
Southern states also sent parties of intending settlers. But
these were not generally slave-holders, but young men anxious
for excitement. They did not go to Kansas, as their opponents
did, to plow, sow, gather crops, and build up homes.
Therefore, though their first rapid and violent movements were
successful, their subsequent increase of resources and numbers
was not equal to that of the Free State settlers. The
Territory soon became practically divided into a Pro-Slavery
district, and a Free State district. Leavenworth in the
former, and Topeka and Lawrence in the latter, were the chief
towns. September 5th, 1855, a Free State Convention at Topeka
repudiated the Territorial Legislature and all its works, as
the acts and deeds of Missourians alone. It also resolved to
order a separate election for delegate to Congress, so as to
force that body to decide the question, and to form a State
government. January 15th, 1856, the Free State settlers
[having applied to Congress for admission as a State] elected
State officers under the Topeka Free State Constitution. The
Federal Executive now entered the field. January 24th, 1856,
the President [Franklin Pierce], in a Special Message to
Congress, endorsed the Pro-Slavery Legislature, and pronounced
the attempt to form a Free State government, without the
approval of the Federal authorities in the Territory, to be an
act of rebellion. He then issued a proclamation, warning all
persons engaged in disturbing the peace of Kansas to retire to
their homes, and placed United States troops at the orders of
Governor Shannon to enforce the (Pro-Slavery) laws of the
Territory. The population of Kansas was now so large that very
considerable armies were mustered on both sides, and a
desultory civil war was kept up until nearly the end of the
year. During its progress two Free State towns, Lawrence and
Ossawattomie, were sacked. July 4th, 1856, the Free State
Legislature attempted to assemble at Topeka, but was at once
dispersed by a body of United States troops, under orders from
Washington. September 9th, a new Governor, Geary, of
Pennsylvania, arrived and succeeded in keeping the peace to
some extent by a mixture of temporizing and decided measures.
By the end, of the year he even claimed to have established
order in the Territory. … January 6th, 1857, the Free State
Legislature again attempted to meet at Topeka, and was again
dispersed by Federal interference. Its presiding officer and
many of its members were arrested by a United States deputy
marshal. The Territorial, or Pro-Slavery, Legislature
quarreled with Governor Geary, who resigned, and Robert J.
Walker, of Mississippi, was appointed in his stead. A
resolution was passed by the House [in Congress] declaring the
Acts of the Territorial Legislature cruel, oppressive,
illegal, and void. It was tabled by the Senate." A new
Congress met December 7th, 1857, "with a Democratic majority
in both branches. In the House, James L. Orr, of South
Carolina, a Democrat, was chosen Speaker. The debates of this
Session were mainly upon the last scene in the Kansas
struggle. Governor Walker had succeeded in persuading the Free
State settlers to recognize the Territorial Legislature so far
as to take part in the election which it had ordered. The
result gave them control of the Legislature. But a previously
elected Pro-Slavery Convention, sitting at Lecompton, went on
to form a State Constitution. This was to be submitted to the
people, but only votes 'For the Constitution with Slavery,' or
'For the Constitution without Slavery,' were to be received.
Not being allowed in either event to vote against the
Constitution, the Free State settlers refused to vote at all,
and the Lecompton Constitution with Slavery received 6,000
majority. The new Territorial Legislature, however, ordered an
election at which the people could vote for or against the
Lecompton Constitution, and a majority of 10,000 was cast
against it. … The President's Message argued in favor of
receiving Kansas as a State under the Lecompton Constitution
with Slavery, on the ground that the delegates had been chosen
to form a State Constitution, and were not obligated to submit
it to the people at all. This view was supported by the
Southern members of Congress, and opposed by the Republicans
and by a part of the Democrats, headed by Senator Douglas, of
Illinois. The Senate passed a bill admitting Kansas as a
State, under the Lecompton Constitution. The House passed the
bill, with the proviso that the Constitution should again be
submitted to a popular vote. The Senate rejected the proviso.
A conference committee recommended that the bill of the House
should be adopted, with an additional proviso making large
grants of public lands to the new State, if the people of
Kansas should vote to adopt the Lecompton Constitution. In
this form the bill was passed by both Houses, and became a
law. … The proffered inducement of public lands was a
failure, and in August the Lecompton Constitution was rejected
by 10,000 majority. Kansas, therefore, still remained a
Territory. In 1859, at an election called by the Territorial
Legislature, the people decided in favor of another Convention
to form a State Constitution. This body met at Wyandot, in
July, 1859, and adopted a State Constitution prohibiting
Slavery. The Wyandot Constitution was submitted to the people
and received a majority of 4,000 in its favor;" but Congress
refused the admission to Kansas under this Constitution, the
Senate rejecting, though the House approved.
_A. Johnston,
History of American Politics,
chapters 18-19._
ALSO IN:
_D. W. Wilder,
Annals of Kansas (containing the text of the several
Constitutions, etc.)._
_E. E. Hale,
Kansas and Nebraska,
chapters 8-9._
_S. T. L. Robinson,
Kansas_
_J. H. Gihon,
Governor Geary's Administration in Kansas._
_F. B. Sanborn,
Life and Letters of John Brown,
chapters 7-11._
_Reports of Select Committee,
(34th Congress, 1st Session, H. R. Report 200)._
_J. F. Rhodes,
History of the United States from 1850,
chapters 7-9 (volume 2)._
_C. Robinson,
The Kansas Conflict._
See, also, JAYHAWKERS.
{1938}
KANSAS: A. D. 1861.
Admission to the Union under the Wyandot Constitution.
"As soon as a sufficient number of Southern members of
Congress [from the seceding States] had withdrawn to give the
Republicans a majority in both Houses, Kansas was admitted as
a State [January 29, 1861] under the Wyandot Free State
Constitution."
_A. Johnston,
History of American Politics,
2d edition, page 185._
KANSAS: A. D. 1863.
Quantrell's guerrilla raid.
The sacking of Lawrence.
See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1863 (AUGUST: MISSOURI-KANSAS).
----------KANSAS: End----------
KANSAS, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SIOUAN FAMILY.
KAPOHN, The.
See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: CARIBS AND THEIR KINDRED.
KAPOLNA, Battle of (1849).
See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1848-1849.
KAPPEL, Battle of (1531).
The Kappeler Milchsuppe.
See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1528-1531.
KARA GEORG, The career of.
See BALKAN AND DANUBIAN STATES:
14-19TH CENTURIES (SERVIA).
KARAISM.
KARAITES.
The Jewish sect of the Karaites originated in the teaching of
one Anan ben David, in the 8th century, whose radical doctrine
was the rejection of the Talmud and a return to the Bible "for
the ordering of religious life." Hence "the system of religion
which Anan founded received the name of the Religion of the
Text, or Karaism,"
_H. Graetz,
History of the Jews,
volume 3, chapter 5._
ALSO IN:
_H. H. Milman,
History of the Jews,
book 23._