Title: The Wyandotte convention; an address
Author: Martin, John Alexander
Language: English
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                        THE WYANDOTTE CONVENTION
                              AN ADDRESS,


                              Delivered By

                            JOHN A. MARTIN,

                               ——at the——

                  Re-Union of the Members and Officers

                               ——of the——

                  WYANDOTTE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

                                HELD AT

                   WYANDOTTE, KANSAS, JULY 29, 1882.

                             ATCHISON, KAS:
                        HASKELL & SON, PRINTERS.
                                —1882.—



                       THE WYANDOTTE CONVENTION.


 MR. PRESIDENT:

It is often charged that participants in assemblages of this character
are apt to exaggerate the importance of the occasion they commemorate,
and after the manner of one of our poets, sing in chorus: "I celebrate
myself." Perhaps I can speak of the Wyandotte Convention and its work
without being accused of this self-gratulation; for I was more of an
observer of its proceedings than a participant in them. I recorded what
was done, but I had no part or lot in the doing. If its work had been
crude or weak, I could not fairly have been held responsible for the
failure. As it was strong, efficient and enduring, I can felicitate you,
the survivors of those who wrought this great service for Kansas,
without a suspicion of self-praise.


                   KANSAS CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS.

Four Conventions framed Constitutions for this State. The first
assembled at Topeka, on the 23d of October, 1855, and adjourned on the
11th of November, after a session of twenty days. It was composed of
forty-seven members, of whom thirty-one signed the Constitution. On the
15th of December this instrument was submitted to the people for
ratification or rejection. Only 1,777 ballots were cast, all but 46
being favorable. One of its sections, a provision excluding negroes and
mulattoes from the State, was submitted as an independent proposition,
and adopted by an affirmative vote of 1,287, to 453 against it.

The second convention was that held at Lecompton, which met on the 7th
of June, 1857, and after a session of four days, adjourned until the
19th of October, a final adjournment being reached on the 3d of
November. It was composed of sixty-four members, forty-five of whom
signed the organic law it framed, and its session continued twenty days.
No direct vote on this Constitution was provided for. The Schedule
ordered two forms of ballot, one, the "Constitution with Slavery," the
other, "Constitution with no Slavery." It was the old turkey and buzzard
choice. The Free State men refused to vote at the election, held on the
21st of December, and only 6,712 ballots were cast, 6,147 being for
Slavery and 569 against Slavery. The Free State men had, however,
elected a majority of the Territorial Legislature in October, and at a
special session of that body, held in December, a law was passed
providing for a direct vote on the Constitution. This election was held
on the 14th of January, 1858, resulting: against the Constitution,
10,266; for, 164—the pro-Slavery men not voting. A third vote on the
Lecompton instrument was taken August 2d, 1858, Congress having ordered
its re-submission under the terms of the English bill. Again it was
rejected, the ballots in its favor being only 1,788, and those against
it, 11,300.

The Leavenworth Convention met at Minneola, March 23d, 1858, and at once
adjourned to Leavenworth, where it re-assembled March 25th. It was
composed of ninety-five members, was in session only eleven days, and
the Constitution it framed was signed by eighty-three persons. This
instrument was adopted at an election held May 11th, by a very small
vote, the pro-Slavery men taking no part in the contest. It was never a
popular organic law, and many Free State men who supported it did so
under protest. An earnest effort was made, by the Republicans, to secure
the admission of Kansas under the Topeka Constitution, and by the
Democrats, with a few exceptions to bring the Territory in under the
Lecompton Constitution. But no serious or determined contest was waged,
in Congress, for admission under the Leavenworth Constitution, and in
less than eight months the movement in its behalf was formally
abandoned.


                       THE WYANDOTTE CONVENTION.

Early in February, 1859, the Territorial Legislature passed an act
submitting to the people the question of calling a Constitutional
Convention. This vote was taken March 28th, and resulted: For, 5,306;
against, 1,425. On the 10th of May, 1859, the Republican party of Kansas
was organized, at Osawatomie, and at the election held on the 7th of
June, for delegates to the Wyandotte Convention, the Republican and
Democratic parties confronted each other in Kansas for the first time.
The Democrats carried the counties of Leavenworth, Doniphan, Jefferson
and Jackson, and elected one of the two delegates from Johnson. The
Republicans were successful in all the other Counties voting. The total
vote polled was 14,000. The Republican membership was thirty five;
Democratic, seventeen.

The Convention then chosen assembled on the 5th day of July, 1859. In
its composition it was an unusual, not to say remarkable, Kansas
assemblage. Apparently the chiefs of the contending parties had grown
weary of Constitution making, or regarded this fourth endeavor in that
line as a predestined failure, for they were conspicuous by their
absence. In the Topeka Convention nearly every prominent man of the Free
State party had a seat. Gen. Lane was its President, and Charles
Robinson, Martin F. Conway, Marcus J. Parrott, Wm. Y. Roberts, Geo. W.
Smith, Philip C. Schuyler, C. K. Holliday, Mark W. Delahay, and many
other recognized Free State leaders, were members. In the Leavenworth
Convention there was a similar gathering of widely-known Free State men.
Conway was its President, and Lane, Roberts, Thos. Ewing, jr., Henry J.
Adams, H. P. Johnson, S. N. Wood, T. Dwight Thacher, P. B. Plumb, Joel
K. Goodin, A. Larzalere, W. F. M. Arny, Chas. H. Branscomb, John
Ritchey, and many other influential Free State chiefs or partizans, were
among its members.


                            THE MEMBERSHIP.

In the Wyandotte Convention all the noted Free State leaders were
conspicuously absent. Its roll-call was made up of names generally new
in Kansas affairs, and largely unknown in either the Free State or
pro-Slavery councils. Its President, James M. Winchell, his colleague,
Wm. McCullough, and John Ritchey, of Shawnee, had been members of the
Leavenworth Convention; Col. Caleb May, of Atchison, and W. R. Griffith,
of Bourbon, had been members of both the Topeka and the Leavenworth
Conventions; and Jas. M. Arthur, of Linn, had been a member of the
Topeka Convention. But their prominence was largely local. On the
Democratic side, too, appeared men before unnoted in the annals of the
stirring and tremendous conflict that had for years made the young
Territory the cynosure of a Continent's interest. None of the prominent
pro-Slavery men who sat in the Lecompton Convention or the pro-Slavery
Legislatures—Calhoun, Stringfellow, Henderson, Elmore, Wilson, Carr and
others—appeared in this body.

Perhaps the absence of these party leaders was a fortunate thing for the
Convention and the incipient State. For in discriminating intelligence,
in considerate zeal for the welfare of the people, in catholic grasp of
principles, and in capacity for defining theories clearly and compactly,
the members of this body were not wanting. On the other hand, there were
fewer jealousies and far less wrangling than would have been possible
had the envious and aspiring party leaders been present. I think it is
certain that the work was better done, done with more sobriety,
sincerity, prudence and real ability, than would have resulted had the
recognized chiefs of the rival parties been on the floor of the
Convention. The pioneers—the John Baptists—of the Free State cause were
all at Topeka, and the Constitution they framed is disfigured by some
blotches and much useless verbiage. The leaders were all at Leavenworth,
where they schemed for precedence, and spread traps to catch one
another, and quarreled over non-essentials, and did everything but make
a popular Constitution. Lecompton was the last expression of a beaten,
desperate and wrong-headed, but intellectually vigorous faction, and was
really, barring the mean method of its submission, and its attempt to
perpetuate Slavery, an admirable organic law.

The younger men of the Territory constituted the Convention at
Wyandotte. They came upon the field fresh, enthusiastic, and with a
place in the world of thought and action to conquer. They recognized the
fact that they must do extremely well to secure popular favor, and they
set about their task with industry, intelligence and prudence. They were
not martyrs or reformers, as many of those at Topeka were; nor jealous
politicians or factionists, as most of those at Leavenworth were. They
had no old battles to fight over again, no personal feuds to distract
them, no recollection of former defeats or victories to reverse or
maintain. They were their own prophets. They had had no experience in
Constitution making, and hence did not look backward. They were not
specialists. A few had hobbies, but the vast majority had no bees
buzzing in their bonnets. A few were dogmatic, but the many were anxious
to discuss, and willing to be convinced. A few were loquacious, but the
majority were thinkers and workers. Some were accomplished scholars, but
the majority were men of ordinary education, whose faculties had been
sharpened and trained by the hard experience of an active and earnest
life. Many were vigorous, direct, intelligent speakers; several were
really eloquent; and a few may justly be ranked with the most versatile
and brilliant men Kansas has ever numbered among her citizens.

Very few were old men. Only fifteen of the fifty-two members were over
forty. Over one-third were under thirty, and nearly two-thirds under
thirty-five. Very few, as I have said, had previously appeared as
representatives of the people in any Territorial assemblage, and this
was especially true of the men whose talents, industry and force soon
approved them leaders. Samuel A. Kingman had been in the Territory only
about eighteen months, and was unknown, outside of Brown county, until
he appeared at Wyandotte. Solon O. Thacher was a young lawyer of
Lawrence, never before prominent in public affairs. John J. Ingalls had
served, the previous winter, as Engrossing Clerk of the Territorial
Council. Samuel A. Stinson was a young attorney, recently from Maine.
William C. McDowell had never been heard of outside of Leavenworth,
Benjamin F. Simpson was a boyish-looking lawyer from Miami county, and
John T. Burris had been practicing, for a year or two, before Justices'
courts in Johnson county. John P. Slough had been a member of the Ohio
Legislature, but was a new comer in Kansas; and E. G. Ross was the
publisher of a weekly newspaper at Topeka.

One-half of the members had been in the Territory less than two years.
Six came in 1854, four in 1855, and twelve in 1856, while Mr. Forman, of
Doniphan, dated his residence from 1843; Mr. Palmer, of Pottawatomie,
from 1854, and Mr. Houston, of Riley, from 1853. Forty-one were from
Northern States, seven from the South, and four were of foreign birth,
England, Scotland, Ireland, and Germany each contributing one. It
appears singular that only one of the Western States, Indiana, was
represented in the membership, that State furnishing six delegates.
Twelve hailed from New England, Ohio contributed twelve, Pennsylvania
six, and New York four. Only eighteen belonged to the legal
profession—an unusually small number of lawyers in such a body. Sixteen
were farmers, eight merchants, three physicians, three manufacturers,
one a mechanic, one a printer, one a land agent, and one a surveyor. The
oldest member was Robert Graham, of Atchison, who was 55; the youngest,
Benj. F. Simpson, of Lykins Co., (now Miami,) who was 23.


                            A WORKING BODY.

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.


                            THE COMMITTEES.

The Chairmanships of the different Committees were assigned as follows:
Preamble and Bill of Rights—Wm. Hutchinson, of Lawrence. Executive
Department—John P. Greer, of Shawnee. Legislative Department—Solon O.
Thacher, of Lawrence. Judicial Department—Samuel A. Kingman, of Brown
Co. Military—James G. Blunt, of Anderson Co. Electors and Elections—P.
H. Townsend, of Douglas. Schedule—John T. Burris, of Johnson.
Apportionment—H. D. Preston, of Shawnee. Corporations and Banking—Robert
Graham, of Atchison. Education and Public Institutions—W. R. Griffith,
of Bourbon Co. County and Township Organizations—John Ritchey, of
Topeka. Ordinance and Public Debt—James Blood, of Lawrence. Finance and
Taxation—Benj. F. Simpson, of Lykins. Amendments and Miscellaneous—S. D.
Houston, of Riley Co. Federal Relations—T. S. Wright, of Nemaha Co.
Phraseology and Arrangements—John J. Ingalls, of Atchison.

I have studied the composition of these Committees with some interest,
reviewing the work of their members in the Convention, and recalling
their subsequent careers. And it appears to me that in making them up,
President Winchell exhibited phenomenally quick and accurate judgment of
men. He was, indeed, one of the best presiding officers I have ever
known. His imperturbable coolness, never for an instant ruffled by the
most sudden and passionate outbreaks of excitement in the Convention;
his mastery of all the niceties of parliamentary law; his uniform
courtesy and tact; his promptness and clearness in stating his
decisions; and above all, the mingled grace and kindness and firmness
with which he announced to an indignant member an adverse decision, were
really wonderful. But what shall be said of that still more wonderful
prescience with which he made up the Committees? What induced this calm,
grey-eyed, observing little man, whose brass-buttoned blue coat was
first seen by two-thirds of the Convention on the morning of the 5th of
July—what impelled him, within twenty-four hours, to select an obscure,
dull-looking, shock-headed country doctor as Chairman of the Military
Committee, and thus name in connection with military affairs, for the
first time, the only Kansas soldier who reached a full Major
Generalship? How did he happen to pass by half a dozen more widely known
lawyers, and appoint as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, a man who,
during more than fifteen years thereafter, occupied a place on the
Supreme Bench of the State, for the greater portion of this time as the
Chief Justice? How came he to recognize so quickly, in the Engrossing
Clerk of the Territorial Legislature, the ripest scholar and the fittest
man in the body for the Chairmanship of the Committee to which every
article of the Constitution was referred for final revision and
amendment? In the youngest and most boyish-looking member he found the
man who was to form, for this State, a code of Finance and Taxation
whose clear directions and wholesome restrictions have guarded Kansas
against the wasteful extravagance of Legislatures and the curse of a
burdensome public debt, during all the tempting and perilous affairs of
its first quarter of a century. And he named, as head of the Committee
on Education, the first State Superintendent of Public Instruction. All
of his appointments were made with rare judgment, but those mentioned
appear notably discerning.


                           PROGRESS OF WORK.

On the sixth day a resolution favoring biennial sessions of the
Legislature—adopted sixteen years afterward—was submitted and referred.
The first of a long series of resolutions or proposed sections of the
Constitution, prohibiting the settlement of negroes or mulattoes within
the limits of the State, was also introduced. This question, with others
of a kindred nature, such as propositions to prohibit colored children
attending the schools, or to exclude them from the University, or to
forbid the appropriation of any funds for their education, and last, and
meanest of all, to deny to negroes the shelter of county poor houses
when poor and helpless, was voted upon again and again, first in one
form and then in another, and to the enduring honor of the majority,
always defeated. It seems singular, in this day and generation, that
such theories found persistent and earnest advocates. But it should be
remembered that all this happened before the war, when slavery was still
an "institution" in nearly half the States of the Union. The pro-Slavery
party was, of course, solidly in favor of excluding free negroes from
the State, and less than four years prior to the meeting of the
Convention, the Free State party, in voting on the Topeka Constitution,
had given a decided majority in favor of such exclusion. It therefore
required genuine courage and principle to go upon record against each
and every proposition of this character. For very few members who so
voted felt absolutely certain of the endorsement of their constituents.

The first Article of the Constitution reported, that on Corporations and
Banks, was submitted on the sixth day and considered. It was stated, by
the President, that many other Committees had their reports in the hands
of the printer, and during the next few days they began to come in very
rapidly. The Convention, to expedite work, adopted a resolution
requiring all Committees to report on or before Saturday, the eleventh
day of the session.


                      THE BOUNDARIES OF THE STATE.

On the seventh day the annexation of that portion of Nebraska lying
south of the Platte river, was formally considered. The then organized
Nebraska counties included in that section of our sister State had
elected delegates to the Convention, who were present earnestly
advocating annexation. This proposition was discussed during several
days, and the debates took a wide range. The Nebraska delegates were
admitted to seats as honorary members, with the privilege of speaking on
this subject. The final determination, however, was to preserve the
original Northern line. Two influences induced this decision, one
political, the other local and material. Many Republicans feared that
the South Platte Country was, or would be likely to become, Democratic.
Lawrence and Topeka both aspired to be the State Capital, and their
influence was against annexation, because they feared it would throw the
center of population far north of the Kaw.

The Preamble and Bill of Rights was reported on the tenth day, and
opened the whole question of the State's boundaries. The Committee
proposed the twenty-third meridian as the western line, and the fortieth
parallel as the line on the north. This would have excluded about ninety
miles of territory within the present limits of the State. The
Committee's recommendation was, however, adopted, and stood as the
determination of the Convention until the day before the final
adjournment, when Col. May, of Atchison, secured a reconsideration, and
on his motion the twenty-fifth parallel was substituted for the
twenty-third. The northern boundary question was finally settled on the
fifteenth day, when, by a vote of 19 ayes to 29 nays, the Convention
refused to memorialize Congress to include the South Platte country
within the limits of Kansas.


                     FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION.

On the seventh day the Legislative and Judicial Committees reported. The
Legislative article was considered next day. The Committee proposed that
bills might originate in either House, but Mr. Winchell submitted a
novel amendment, which required all laws to originate in the House of
Representatives. This was adopted, notwithstanding the vigorous
opposition of Mr. Thacher, the Chairman of the Committee, by a vote of
37 to 13. It survived the admission of the State only three years, being
amended in 1864.

On the eighth day the Militia article was adopted; on the ninth day the
Judicial article was perfected, and the article on Education and Public
Institutions reported and discussed; and on the tenth day the Committees
on County and Township Organizations, and Schedule, reported. The
deathless pertinacity of a "claim" is illustrated by a petition
presented that day, from one Samuel A. Lowe, a clerk of the so-called
"Bogus Legislature," who wanted pay for certain work he alleged he had
performed. Only a year ago Mr. Lowe presented the same claim to
Congress, and it was, I believe allowed by the House. But the Kansas
Senators made such determined war on it that Mr Lowe can still sing, "a
claim to keep I have."

I have mentioned the fact that Mr Winchell was the author of the section
providing that all bills should originate in the House. It should be
stated that Mr. Ingalls was the author of the provision that "in actions
for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it
shall appear that the alleged libelous matter was published for
justifiable ends, the accused shall be acquitted." Another original
provision of the Constitution is the Homestead section. This was first
proposed by Mr. Foster, of Leavenworth county, on the sixth day of the
session, and reported by the Committee on Miscellaneous and Amendments,
on the thirteenth day. No other feature of the Constitution, perhaps,
elicited more animated and earnest debate. It was discussed for several
days; amended, referred, and again submitted. As originally reported, it
provided for the exemption of "a homestead of 160 acres of land, or a
house and lot not exceeding $2,000 in value, or real, personal and mixed
property not exceeding $2,000, to any family." This was adopted by a
vote of 28 ayes to 16 nays. Two days later the vote was reconsidered,
and President Winchell proposed the wording finally adopted: "A
homestead of 160 acres of farming land, or of one acre within the limits
of an incorporated town or city, occupied as a residence by the family
of the owner, together with all the improvements on the same, shall be
exempted from forced sale under any process of law, and shall not be
alienated without the joint consent of husband and wife, where the
relation exists." Thus perfected, it was adopted by a vote of 33 to 7.

I thought at the time, however, and a review of the proceedings and
debates has confirmed my impression that favorable action on this
provision was due to the earnest and eloquent advocacy of Judge Kingman,
who was its most zealous, logical and courageous supporter. The
homestead clause of the Kansas Constitution has been severely
criticised, but I believe the people of the State generally regard it as
a most beneficent provision of their organic law. For nearly a quarter
of a century it has been maintained, and it still stands, as Judge
Kingman said it would, guarding "the home, the hearthstone, the fireside
around which a man may gather his family with the certainty of assurance
that neither the hand of the law, nor any, nor all of the uncertainties
of life, can eject them from the possession of it."

The Finance and Taxation and the Executive articles were adopted on the
fourteenth day, and the Miscellaneous article considered. This
originally provided for the election of a Public Printer, but that
section was stricken out, after a vigorous protest by Messrs. Ross and
Ingalls. Nine years later their idea was endorsed, by the adoption of an
amendment creating the office of State Printer.

On the seventeenth day the temporary Capital was located at Topeka, the
second ballot resulting: for Topeka, 29; for Lawrence, 14; for Atchison,
6.


                   THE FIRST "PROHIBITION AMENDMENT."

On the same day a proposition was made, by Mr. Preston, of Shawnee Co.,
to amend the Miscellaneous article by adding the following section:

"Sec. —. The Legislature shall have power to regulate or prohibit the
sale of alcoholic liquors, except for mechanical and medicinal
purposes."

A motion made to lay this amendment on the table, was defeated, by a
vote of 18 ayes to 31 nays. But the anxiety of the members to exclude
from the Constitution any provision that might render its adoption
doubtful, or prevent the admission of the State, finally prevailed, and
after a full interchange of views, Mr. Preston withdrew his amendment.
There is, it is said, nothing new under the sun. Those who imagine that
the prohibition amendment adopted in 1880 was a new departure in
Constitution making, have never examined the records of the Wyandotte
Convention.


                     THE LAST OF SLAVERY IN KANSAS.

On the nineteenth day occurred the last struggle over the Slavery
question in Kansas. Sec. 6 of the Bill of Rights, prohibiting Slavery or
involuntary servitude, came up for adoption, and it was moved to add a
proviso suspending the operation of this section for the period of
twelve months after the admission of the State. This proviso received
eleven votes, and twenty-eight were recorded against it. A most exciting
discussion occurred, on the same day, over the apportionment article,
which the Democrats denounced as a "gerrymander."


                             THE LAST DAYS.

The work of the Convention was practically completed on the twenty-first
day. The various articles had each been considered and adopted, first in
Committee of the whole, then in Convention, then referred to the
Committee on Phraseology and Arrangement, and, after report of that
Committee, again considered by sections and adopted. But so anxious were
the members that every word used should be the right word, expressing
the idea intended most clearly and directly, that when the reading of
the completed Constitution was finished, on the morning of the 21st day,
it was decided to refer it to a special committee, consisting of Messrs.
Ingalls, Winchell, Ross and Slough, for further revision and
verification. This Committee reported the same afternoon, and again the
Constitution was read by sections, for final revision, with the same
painstaking carefulness and attention to the minutest details. All that
afternoon, and all the next day, with brief interruptions for action on
other closing work, this revision went on, and it was five o'clock in
the afternoon of the 29th before the last section was perfected. Then
occurred one of the most dramatic scenes of the Convention. Mr.
Hutchinson submitted a resolution declaring that "we do now adopt and
proceed to sign the Constitution."


                           A SPIRITED DEBATE.

At once Mr. Slough addressed the Chair, and after warmly eulogizing the
general features of the Constitution, pronouncing it "a model
instrument," he formally announced that political objections impelled
himself and his Democratic associates to decline attaching their
signatures to it. These objections he stated at length. They were,
briefly: the curtailment of the boundaries of the State; the large
Legislative body provided for; the exclusion of Indians made citizens of
the United States, from the privilege of voting; the registry of voters
at the election on the Constitution; the refusal to exclude free negroes
from the State; and the apportionment.

This action of the Democratic members had been foreshadowed for several
days, but it was, nevertheless, something of a surprise. The Republicans
understood that several of the Democrats had earnestly opposed such a
course, and hoped that some of them would be governed by their own
convictions, rather than by the mandate of their caucus. For a few
moments after Mr. Slough concluded, the Convention sat, hushed and
expectant. But no other Democratic member rose. It was evident that the
caucus ruled. Then Judge Thacher, the President _pro tem._, addressed
the Chair, and in a speech of remarkable vigor and eloquence, accepted
the gauge of battle thrown down. "Upon this Constitution," he declared,
"we will meet our opponents in the popular arena. It is a better, a
nobler issue than even the old Free State issue. They have thrown down
the gauntlet; we joyfully take it up." He then proceeded to defend, with
great earnestness and power, the features of the Constitution objected
to by Mr. Slough. "The members of the Convention," he asserted, "have
perfected a work that will be enduring." The Constitution, he affirmed,
would "commend itself to the true and good everywhere, because through
every line and syllable there glows the generous sunshine of liberty."
It was and should be, he declared:

        "Like some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,
        Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm;
        Though round its breast the rolling clouds shall spread,
        Eternal sunshine settles on its head."

Read in the light of subsequent history, these declarations appear
almost prophetic.


                       SIGNING THE CONSTITUTION.

The twilight shadows were gathering about Wyandotte when this debate
closed, and the Convention proceeded to vote on Mr. Hutchinson's
resolution, which was adopted by 34 ayes to 13 nays—one Republican and
four Democrats being absent. The roll was then called, and the
Constitution was signed by all the Republican members except one, Mr.
Wright, of Nemaha, who was absent, sick. The work of the Convention was
completed, and after voting thanks to its officers, it adjourned without
date.


                             TWO MISTAKES.

Each party, I think, was guilty of one blunder it afterwards seriously
regretted—the Republicans in refusing to include the South Platte
country within the boundaries of Kansas; the Democrats in refusing to
sign the Constitution they had labored diligently to perfect. I speak of
what I consider the great mistake of the Republicans with all the more
frankness because I was, at the time, in hearty sympathy with their
action; but I feel confident that no Republican member is living to-day
who does not deplore that decision. And I am equally confident that
within a brief time after the Convention adjourned, there were few
Democratic members who did not seriously regret their refusal to sign
the Constitution.


                         "ADDED TO THE STARS."

On the 4th of October, 1859, the Constitution was submitted to the
people for ratification or rejection, and, for the first time in the
history of Kansas, all parties cast a full, free and unintimidated vote.
The Republicans favored, and the Democrats generally opposed its
adoption. Nearly 16,000 ballots were polled, of which 10,421 were for,
and 5,530 against the Constitution. The Homestead clause, submitted as
an independent proposition, was ratified by a vote of 8,788 for, to
4,772 against it. Every county in the territory except two, Johnson and
Morris, gave a majority for the Constitution.

Two months later, December 6th, State and County officers and members of
the Legislature were elected, and the people of Kansas, having exhausted
their authority in State building, patiently awaited the action of
Congress. On the 11th of April, 1860, the House of Representatives
voted, 134 to 73, to admit Kansas as a State, under the Wyandotte
Constitution. Twice, during the next eight months, the Senate defeated
motions to consider the Kansas bill, but on the 21st of January, 1861,
several Southern Senators having seceded, Mr. Seward "took a pinch of
snuff" and called it up again. It passed by a vote of 36 to 16, and on
the 29th of the same month President Buchanan approved it. Thus young
Kansas, through many difficulties and turmoils, was "added to the
Stars."


                       AN ENDURING CONSTITUTION.

During nearly twenty-two of the most eventful and exciting years of
American history, the Constitution thus framed and ratified has defined
the powers and regulated the duties of the government of Kansas. Three
Legislatures have voted down propositions to call a new Constitutional
Convention. Twelve or fifteen amendments have been submitted, but only
eight have been approved by the people. Finally, in 1880, the
Legislature voted to submit a proposal for a new Convention, and at the
regular election held in November of that year, this ballot was taken.
The result was an endorsement of the old Wyandotte Constitution by a
majority far more emphatic and overwhelming than that by which it was
originally adopted, the vote standing 22,870 for, and 146,279 against
the proposed Convention, or nearly seven to one.

It is doubtful whether the organic law of any other State in the Union
has more successfully survived the mutations of time and inconstant
public sentiment, and the no less fluctuating necessities of a swiftly
developing Commonwealth. Of its seventeen articles, only four, and of
its one hundred and seventy-eight sections, only eight, have ever been
amended. And of the eight amendments adopted, only five have revoked or
modified the principles or policy originally formulated, the others
being changes demanded by the growth of the State, or by the events of
the civil war. The first amendment, ratified in 1861, provides that no
banking institution shall issue circulating notes of a less denomination
than $1—the original limitation being $5. In 1864 the provision
requiring all bills to originate in the House of Representatives, was
repealed; and a section intended to prevent U. S. soldiers from voting,
but which was so worded that it deprived our volunteers of that right,
was also repealed. In 1867 an amendment was adopted disfranchising all
persons who aided the "Lost Cause," or who were dishonorably discharged
from the army of the United States, or who had defrauded the United
States or any State during the war. In 1868 the State Printer amendment
was ratified. In 1873 the number of Senators and Representatives,
originally limited to 33 and 100, respectively, was increased to 40 and
125. In 1875 three propositions, each having in view biennial instead of
annual sessions of the Legislature, were adopted. And in 1880 the
Prohibition amendment was ratified. These are all the changes that have
been made in our organic law during nearly a quarter of a century.


                         PARTING AT WYANDOTTE.

It would violate the proprieties of such an occasion to comment on the
personal feuds or partisan broils which once or twice marred the general
harmony and orderly progress of the proceedings. These were very few,
indeed, and none of them, I think, outlasted the Convention. The members
parted, when the final adjournment came, with mutual respect and good
will, and the friendships formed during the session have been unusually
warm and enduring.


                          SUBSEQUENT HISTORY.

It seems fitting that, in concluding this sketch of the Convention and
its labors, I should briefly narrate the subsequent history of its
members. It was a small company, that which parted here twenty-three
years ago to-day, and it was made up, as I have said, largely of young
and vigorous men. But when this reunion was first suggested, and I came
to look over the familiar names I had so often called during the long,
hot days of that far away July, it was painful to note the havoc death
had made. It impressed me something as did a roll-call I once witnessed,
in the red glare of bivouac fires after one of the great battles of the
war, when surviving comrades answered "killed," or "wounded," to
one-half the names of a regiment. Ten of the fifty-two members composing
the Convention I have not heard of for many years. Of the remaining
forty-two, twenty rest quietly in

                                —"The reconciling grave,
              Where all alike lie down in peace together."

The largest delegation was that from Leavenworth county, and only one of
the ten gentlemen comprising it, R. C. Foster, certainly survives. Rare
Sam Stinson, whose genial wit and brilliant accomplishments won all
hearts, was elected Attorney General in 1861, by a unanimous vote, and
died in his old Maine home, in February, 1866. William C. McDowell was
chosen Judge of the First Judicial District at the first election under
the Constitution; served four years; and was killed by a fall from an
omnibus in St. Louis, July 16, 1866. John P. Slough removed to Colorado,
was Colonel of a regiment raised in that State, and later a Brigadier
General; was appointed, after the war, Chief Justice of New Mexico, and
was killed at Santa Fe. Samuel Hipple removed to Atchison county; served
as a Quartermaster during the war; was elected State Senator in 1867;
and died in January, 1876. William Perry removed to Colorado, where he
died. P. S. Parks returned to Indiana, and engaged in journalism and the
law until his death, three years ago. Fred. Brown died in St. Joseph,
Mo., and John Wright at his home in Leavenworth county. Robert Graham,
of Atchison county, the oldest member, died in 1868. Three of the five
members from Doniphan county, Robert J. Porter, Benjamin Wrigley and
John Stairwalt, are dead. The members from Linn, James M. Arthur and
Josiah Lamb, are both dead, as are also N. C. Blood, of Douglas, and T.
S. Wright, of Nemaha. W. R. Griffith, of Bourbon, was elected the first
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and died, February 12th,
1862, before the completion of his term. James G. Blunt, of Anderson,
who became a Major General during the war, and won renown as a brave and
skillful soldier, died, in Washington, a year or more ago. James Hanway,
of Franklin, after a long life of usefulness, died at his old home, only
a brief while ago. President James M. Winchell returned to New York
shortly after the outbreak of the rebellion, and resumed his connection
with the _Times_, first as war correspondent and afterwards as an
editorial writer. Until his death, a few years since, he was employed
upon that great journal.


                           SURVIVING MEMBERS.

Of the surviving members, many have attained the highest distinctions of
the State, and all, I believe are useful and honored citizens. At the
first election under the Constitution, Samuel A. Kingman was chosen as
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; in 1866 he was elected Chief
Justice, and re-elected in 1872. Benj. F. Simpson was elected the first
Attorney General of the State, but resigned the position to enter the
army, in which he served throughout the war. He has since been Speaker
of the House of Representatives, several times a State Senator, and is
now serving his second term as U. S. Marshal. Solon O. Thacher was
chosen District Judge at the first election under the Constitution, has
since occupied many positions of honor and responsibility, and is a
member of the present State Senate. J. C. Burnett, S. D. Houston and S.
E. Hoffman were members of the first State Senate, and Geo. H. Lillie
was a member of the first House of Representatives. E. G. Ross was
appointed United States Senator in 1866, and elected in 1867, serving
until 1871. John J. Ingalls was chosen as State Senator in 1861; was
elected United States Senator in 1873, and re-elected in 1879, and is
still occupying that distinguished place. John T. Burris was Lieut. Col.
of the 10th Kansas, and subsequently District Judge. Wm. P. Dutton,
James Blood, L. R. Palmer, John P. Greer and John Ritchey have filled
many positions of local trust and prominence, with credit and
usefulness. R. C. Foster and John W. Forman are residing in Texas;
William Hutchinson lives in Washington; and C. B. McClellan, E. Moore
and E. M. Hubbard are still prominent and honored citizens of the
counties they represented. My old friend, Col. Caleb May, sole surviving
member of the three Free State Constitutional Conventions, lives in
Montgomery Co. If Dean Swift was right in saying that "whoever could
make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow on a spot of
ground where one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do
more essential service to his country, than the whole race of
politicians," what honor is due this sturdy Kansas farmer, who, during a
residence of twenty-eight years in the State, has never—not even in the
disastrous seasons of 1860 and 1874—failed to raise a good crop. Even
the heroic service he rendered the cause of Freedom during the darkest
days of the struggle in Kansas, was less valuable to the State than this
practical and triumphant vindication of its soil and climate.


                            "LOST TO SIGHT."

Stalwart, quiet Wm. McCullough I have not heard of for many years. John
A. Middleton, of Marshall Co., was a soldier in the 7th Kansas, removed
to Montana in 1864, and I have learned nothing of him since. H. D.
Preston, of Shawnee; R. L. Williams, P. H. Townsend and Ed. Stokes, of
Douglas; Allen Crocker, of Woodson; A. D. McCune, of Leavenworth; J. H.
Signor, of Allen, and J. T. Barton, of Johnson, have all disappeared and
left no sign. I know not whether they are living or dead.


                             THE OFFICERS.

Of the officers of the Convention, queer old George Warren,
Sergeant-at-arms of nearly all the early Kansas Legislatures and
Conventions, died many years ago. Ed. S. Nash, the Journal Clerk, was
Adjutant of the 1st Kansas, and died, some years since, in Chicago.
Robt. St. Clair Graham, one of the Enrolling Clerks, was elected Judge
of the Second Judicial District in 1866, and died in 1880. Richard J.
Hinton, also an Enrolling Clerk, is the editor of the Washington (D. C.)
_Gazette_, and a widely known journalist. Werter R. Davis, the Chaplain,
was a member of the first State Legislature; was Chaplain of the 12th
and Colonel of the 16th Kansas regiments during the war; and is one of
the most prominent clergymen of his denomination in the State. S. D.
McDonald, printer to the Convention, is still engaged in journalism. J.
M. Funk, the door-keeper, and J. L. Blanchard, the Assistant Secretary,
I have not heard from or of for many years.


                              CONCLUSION.

I wish I could sketch more in detail the work and history of the members
of the Convention. But this paper is, I know, already too long. I have
tried to tell how our Constitution was made. I could not narrate, within
reasonable limits,

               "What workman wrought its ribs of steel,
                 Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
               What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
               In what a forge and what a heat
                 Were shaped the anchors of its hope."

It is enough to say that the work has proved strong and enduring.
Through the groping inexperience of our State's childhood and the still
more perilous ambitions of its youth, through the storm of civil war and
the calm of prosperous peace, the Wyandotte Convention has justified the
confident hopes of its early friends. The most marvelous changes have
been wrought in this country since it was framed. The huge brick
building in which the Convention held its sessions, long ago crumbled
and fell. The distracted, dependent and turbulent Territory has grown to
be a peaceful, powerful and prosperous State. Its hundred thousand
people have multiplied to a million. Upon its vast and solitary
prairies, where then bloomed a wild and unprofitable vegetation,
"wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves
his bosom," miles of green meadows now glisten with morning dew, and
thousands of golden wheat fields shimmer in the noonday sun, and
millions of acres of tasseling corn, rustling in the sweet twilight air,
tell of harvests so bountiful that they would feed a continent. Every
quiet valley and prairie swell is dotted with pleasant homes, where
happy children laugh and play and men and women go their busy ways in
prosperous content. Eager learners throng eight thousand school houses.
Church bells ring in nearly every county from the Missouri to the
Colorado line. More than four thousand miles of railway bind town and
country, factory and farm and store, into one community. And over all
the institutions and activities of this great, intelligent and orderly
Commonwealth, broods the genius and spirit of the Wyandotte Convention.
Under its ample authority and direction, just and generous laws have
maintained the rights of citizenship, given protection to labor and
property, stimulated enterprise, multiplied industries, opened to every
child and youth the door of school and college, encouraged morality,
fostered temperance, protected the weak, restrained the strong, and
sternly punished outbreaking crime. And still the sunshine of popular
confidence and favor falls upon the Constitution. It has outlived half
of its framers, and when, a quarter of a century hence, the last
surviving member of the Convention awaits the inevitable hour, the
Wyandotte Constitution may yet be the chart and compass ordering and
guiding the destinies of a State whose imperial manhood is foreshadowed
by its stalwart and stately youth.

[Illustration]



                          TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES


 1. Changed 1855 to 1854 on p. 4.
 2. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
    errors.
 3. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
 4. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.





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