Abelard Guthrie to Hiram Hill
Creator: Guthrie, Abelard
Date: November 11, 1858
Abelard Guthrie, a member of the Quindaro Town Company, wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts, rebutting Hill's accusations that he had acted in bad faith regarding certain enterprises of the Town Company. Guthrie stated that he had intended to begin the grading work on Kansas Avenue and other roads, but had found that the Company's funds were depleted; he suspected a swindling. He defended himself in light of other land purchases and business transactions and expressed extreme frustration at his bleak financial situation.

Abraham Lincoln
Creator: Jackson, Calvin
Date: Oct. 01, 1858
A photograph of Abraham Lincoln taken at the time of the Douglas- Lincoln debates.

Abstract of Title, Wyandotte Reserve, Kansas City
Date: 1858 - 1954
This is the abstract of title prepared by Guarantee Abstract Company for 3471 N. 27th, Kansas City, Kansas, on lot 13 in the Windy Cliff subdivision of the Wyandotte Reserve in Wyandotte County.

Act of Incorporation, Wyandotte City
Creator: Fields, Henry C.
Date: June 8, 1858
This act of incorporation for Wyandotte City declared that the town would be incorporated into Leavenworth County, Kansas Territory. Incorporation was decided in court after several taxpayers presented a petition for Wyandotte City's incorporation into the territory and for permission to establish a local government. The document was recorded by Henry C. Fields, clerk of the court at Leavenworth.

Address of the Constitutional Convention to American Public
Date: April 3, 1858
A committee made up of John M. Walden, James Fletcher, Thomas Ewing, Jr., Isaac T. Goodnow, Henry J. Adams, T. Dwight Thacher, and Addison Danford prepared this eleven-page manuscript "address to accompany the instrument" adopted at the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention. The statement essentially laid out the philosophical foundations and rationale for the new document. It argued that the facts showed the overwhelming majority of Kansans desired admission as a free state.

Adjournment from constitutional convention in Minneola, Kansas
Date: March 23, 1858
Motion for adjourning the constitutional convention from Minneola in Franklin County to Leavenworth, Kansas. The motion states, "We have organized temporarily and are now getting ready to adjourn if possible to some other place to show our utter detestation of the Minneola Swindle." The controversy began when the Kansas Legislature passed a bill designating Minneola as the new state capital. The town existed only on paper, and the public accused the legislature and delegates attending the convention of looking for personal gain in establishing a new town. The motion to adjourn from Minneola received 60 votes in favor and 13 votes opposed. Isaac Goodnow wrote about the swindle to a friend on April 1st, 1858 (see Kansas Memory unit 3763).

A. G. Bradford to James Denver
Creator: Bradford, A. G.
Date: March 18, 1858
A. G. Bradford, writing from Washington, D.C., to Kansas Territory's governor James H. Denver, suggests that the effort to admit Kansas Territory as a state under the Lecompton Constitution likely would fail in the U.S. Congress. Bradford also seeks Denver's support for Bradford's attempt to receive an appointment as Superintendent of Indian Affairs and comments upon Denver's future political opportunities in California.

A. H. Reeder to Franklin Crane
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: September 1, 1858
Andrew Reeder, former governor of Kansas Territory, wrote from Easton, Pennsylvania, to inform Franklin Crane of the eastern response to elections in Kansas, and the prospects for the Leavenworth Constitution. Reeder also discussed the value of Topeka lots and a request to donate one lot for a church.

A. J. Bradford to James W. Denver
Creator: Bradford, A. G.
Date: April 1, 1858
A. G. Bradford, writing from Washington, D.C., to Governor James W. Denver, reports that the U.S. House of Representatives passes the Crittenden-Montgomery resolution, which proposed to resubmit the Lecompton Constitution to a vote in Kansas Territory. Bradford predicts, however, that a House-Senate conference committee would endorse the Senate's version of the Lecompton Constitution bill, which proposed the admission of Kansas as a state under the Lecompton Constitution. Bradford adds that he believes both houses of Congress would agree to admit Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution.

Albert C. Morton to Hiram Hill
Creator: Morton, Albert C.
Date: January 1858
Albert Morton wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts, describing at length the efforts of Quindaro's citizens to grade a large avenue through the town. Morton added that Quindaro was about to establish a city charter, which, if approved by the Legislature, would require the taxation of the citizens. He also mentioned a shooting the night before of a proslavery man who had lost his seat to free statesman Charles Chadwick in a recent election under the Lecompton Constitution.

Albert C. Morton to Hiram Hill
Creator: Morton, Albert C.
Date: February 27, 1858
Albert Morton wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts. Morton predicted a good property market for the coming spring, despite the "hard money matters" which had been the situation during the winter. He reported that the Shawnee lands would open soon, to have them paid for by the end of the summer, and that Hill's land investments in Manhattan were "in good standing". Morton added that Samuel Simpson has been busy lately, traveling back and forth from Quindaro to Lawrence.

Albert C. Morton to Hiram Hill
Creator: Morton, Albert C.
Date: April 30, 1858
Albert Morton wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts. Morton reported that the arrival of two new Eastern businessmen had brought business growth to the town, including a sash and blind factory and new three-story brick building. Despite these new constructions, Morton described the atmosphere as "dull". Though it was a bad time to sell land, since money was scarce, with the recent opening of Indian lands to settlement it was an optimum time to buy land at a low price.

Albert C. Morton to Hiram Hill
Creator: Morton, Albert C.
Date: August 3, 1858
Albert Morton wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts. Morton had recently returned to Quindaro in order to vote on the Lecompton Constitution as submitted by the English bill. Having arrived there, he found the place to be "dull". Morton described many empty houses and buildings, left behind from settlers selling out to return home; money had also been lost in investments and bridges were washed out in floods. However, the Town Company had invested in a flour mill, which had commenced operations. Morton also discussed matters of buying and selling land warrants with Hill.

Albert C. Morton to Hiram Hill
Creator: Morton, Albert C.
Date: October 30, 1858
Albert Morton wrote from Leavenworth City, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts. Morton had "given up living in Quindaro" and planned to settle in Leavenworth City. Recently ill, he had left Quindaro along with many settlers and business owners. Morton reported that Abelard Guthrie continued to be optimistic about Quindaro's prospects for survival, but he remained skeptical. If Hill still planned to visit Quindaro in the spring, Morton would meet him there.

Amos A. Lawrence to Charles Robinson
Creator: Lawrence, Amos Adams
Date: March 5, 1858
Lawrence writes from Boston, Massachusetts, on March 5, 1858, to introduce W. D. Goddard, "an ardent free state man" who wished "to live and die in Kansas."

An Act to provide for the election of Delegates to a Convention to frame a State Constitution
Creator: Deitzler, George Washington, 1826-1884
Date: 1858
This act pertains to the election of delegates to the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention in the Kansas Territory.

Andrew Jackson Isacks to General James William Denver
Creator: Isacks, Andrew Jackson
Date: February 01, 1858
In this letter to General James W. Denver, Kansas Territory Attorney General Andrew J. Isacks addresses his recent purchase of the "lands of the Christian Indians." Isacks explains that the Christian Indians were "content to live upon any other four sections of land that I might get for them, if the Delawares were not disposed to receive them."

Anna Margaret Watson Randolph, diary
Creator: Randolph, Anna Margaret Watson, 1838-1917
Date: August 17, 1858 - August 22, 1858
This brief diary, kept by Anna Margaret (Watson) Randolph, begins with her move to Kansas in an entry dated August 17, 1858. These six entries at the beginning of her diary provide details about her family's journey from Ohio to Kansas Territory, included a number of interesting accounts of their journey on a riverboat. Their boat ran aground several times and, interspersed among her descriptions of these difficulties, Anna wrote about her sister Mary Jane, the weather, and her personal observances of other passengers. She also filled her diary with her frustrations and concerns during their arduous journey west.

Annual Report to the American Missionary Association
Creator: Adair, Samuel Lyle, 1811-1898
Date: 1858
This draft report, written by Samuel L. Adair, covers the year 1857 and also describes the organization of the Congregational Church in Osawatomie, Kansas Territory. Samuel L. Adair was preaching at a number of rural churches in the area. It reports on membership, attendance, and other religious activities. He also mentions the activities of other denominations in the area.

Articles of Agreement for Shubel Morgan's Company
Creator: Morgan, Shubel
Date: July 12, 1858
In July 1858, fifteen men including Shubel Morgan, alias John Brown, J. H. Kagi, James Montgomery, and Augustus Wattles signed this document and thus "agree[d] to be governed by the following rules" of conduct. The rules included "gentlemanly and respectful deportment," obedience to the commander's orders, "no intoxicating drinks," etc.

Augustus Wattles to William Hutchinson
Creator: Wattles, Augustus, 1807-1876
Date: April 28, 1858
Wattles, writing from Fort Scott, Kansas Territory, describes the violence in the southern portion of Kansas Territory shortly before the Marais des Cygnes massacre.

Ballot box
Creator: Star Candles
Date: between 1857 and 1858
This ballot box was discovered in January 1858 under a woodpile in Lecompton, Kansas. It contained 1,838 fraudulent pro-Lecompton Constitution ballots. The Lecompton Constitution was created by mostly proslavery delegates under the leadership of John Calhoun. It was Calhoun's clerk, L.A. MacLean, who placed the ballots inside this box and hid it in the woodpile outside Calhoun's office in Lecompton. The history of the box is handwritten on the interior.

Benefit Ball
Date: May 21, 1858
This invitation was to a ball to be held on the anniversary of the destruction of the Free State Hotel. It was to celebrate the opening of the Eldridge House, Lawrence, Kansas Territory. Tickets cost $5.00 and the proceeds were to be used for furnshing the new hotel. Thirty nine men from 17 different communities were listed on the invitation.

Beware of frauds! Down with the disorganizers!
Creator: Central Committee
Date: 1858
This poster discusses the slate of candidates for a constitutional convention (Leavenworth?), cautioning free state men to beware of attempts to divide them and thus weaken their ability to challenge the pro-slavery force. It also warns about split Free State tickets.

B.F. Johnson to General James William Denver
Creator: Johnson, Benjamin F.
Date: January 23, 1858
In this letter to General James W. Denver, B.F. Johnson asks Denver if the New York Indians had made a treaty with the United States Government. Johnson also asks Denver if the land set aside for the New York Indians near Fort Scott, Kansas, was open "for settlement either by Preemption or in any other way." Johnson is writing from Wyandotte City, Kansas Territory.