It was a working body, from the first hour of its session until the
last. There is a tradition that the Continental Congress which
promulgated the Declaration of Independence was materially hastened in
its deliberations over that immortal document by swarms of flies that
invaded the hall where it sat, and made the life of its members a
burden. Perhaps the intense heat of the rough-plastered room where the
Convention met, or the knowledge that Territorial scrip would be
received by importunate landlords only at a usurious discount, had
something to do with urging dispatch in business. But certainly the
Convention went to work with an energy and industry I have never seen
paralleled in a Kansas deliberative body since that time. It perfected
its organization, adopted rules for its government, discussed the best
mode of procedure in framing a Constitution, and appointed a Committee
to report upon that subject, during the first day’s session; all the
standing Committees were announced on the third day; and by the close of
the fifth day it had disposed of two very troublesome contested election
cases, decided that the Ohio Constitution should be the model for that
of Kansas, perfected arrangements for reporting and printing its
debates, and instructed its Committees upon a number of disputed
questions. The vote on selecting a model for the Constitution was, on
the second ballot: for the Ohio Constitution, 25 votes; Indiana, 23; and
Kentucky, 1. So our Kansas Constitution was modeled after that of
Ohio—something, I think, as the farmer’s new house was designed after
his old one; it was built upon the old site.