Lecompton Constitution

The Lecompton Constitution was drafted by pro-slavery advocates and included provisions to protect slavery in the state and to exclude free people of color from its bill of rights.

A rigged election approved it in December 1857 but overwhelmingly defeated in a second vote in January 1858 by a majority of voters in the Kansas Territory.

[2] The territorial legislature—which, because of widespread electoral fraud, mainly consisted of enslavers—met at the designated capital of Lecompton in September 1857 to produce a rival document.

President James Buchanan's appointee as territorial governor of Kansas, Robert J. Walker, although a strong defender of slavery, opposed the blatant injustice of the constitution and resigned rather than implement it.

A vocal supporter of enslaver rights, which he believed necessary to prevent Southern secession and preserve the Union, President James Buchanan endorsed the Lecompton Constitution before Congress.

Anson Burlingame delivered a fiery speech in the House of Representatives on March 31, 1858, condemning those in favor of the Lecompton Constitution as "An Appeal to Patriots Against Fraud and Disunion".