0
Lecompton Constitution, a proposed constitution under which the Territory of Kansas would have entered the Union as a slave state. The constitution was drawn up at Lecompton, the territorial capital, in 1857. After much controversy it was rejected by Congress.
The constitutional convention at Lecompton was dominated by proslavery Kansans; free-state, or antislavery, voters had boycotted the election to pick delegates because of fraudulent procedures. The delegates wrote a constitution permitting slavery; they gave the voters only once choice-between a provision that would allow more slaves to be brought in and one that would not. In the election, which was marked by fraud and boycotted by the antislavery voters, the first proposition won. The U.S. House of Representatives rejected the constitution and in 1858 it was voted down decisively by Kansans in a new referendum.
Still curious? Ask our experts.
Chat with our AI personalities
Devin
Lao
ProfessorAdd your answer:
Earn +20 pts
The writers of the Lecompton Constitution wanted?
ham
Why was the Lecompton Constitution considered a sly maneuver?
The Lecompton Constitution included provisions for allowing slavery in Kansas even if the people voted against slavery.
Why did Buchanan support the lecompton constitution?
James Buchanan supported the Lecompton Constitution because he was a supporter of the rights of slaveholders. Buchanan served as the 15th U.S. President.
Who served as President during the Lecompton Constitution?
James Buchanan
Who was the president who endorsed the Lecompton Constitution?
The Lecompton Constitution was one of several state constitutions proposed to the US Congress for approval by the territory of Kansas, as it sought to become a US state. President James Buchanan, although he was not the president at the time, was a supporter of the Lecompton Constitution, which would have preserved slave-owner rights in the new state. Kansas was admitted as a free state in 1861, due to the opposition of abolitionists living their at the time.
