Martin Franklin Conway (November 19, 1827 – February 15, 1882) was a U.S. congressman, consul to France, abolitionist, and advocate of the Free-State movement in Kansas.

He was elected chairman of the executive committee of the first national convention of journeyman printers held in Baltimore on September 12, 1851.

[3][5] In March 1855, Conway was elected from Riley County to the first legislative council in the Kansas Territory, but resigned prior to assuming his seat.

[1][6] In 1855, he was an active member at the Free-State meeting in Big Springs[citation needed] and became a delegate to the Topeka Constitutional convention.

[1][2][3][7] While in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was known for his opposition to slavery but also served as a member of the Washington, D.C. "peace convention" in an effort to avert civil war.

[1] His senate floor speech on admitting West Virginia to the Union on December 9, 1862, was published by the New York Times.

[1] The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863; Conway spent the day in Massachusetts with Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Julia Ward Howe.

[3] Conway defended President Andrew Johnson against political assaults waged by Radical Republicans in Congress.