Constitution Hall SHS & Lane University

Location:  Downtown Lecompton, follow signs to each attraction

Town:  Lecompton

Contact:  Constitution Hall--ph 785/887-6520
                  Lane University--ph 785/887-6285
                  Check out the website Historic Lecompton for more pictures, information,  and a  map.

In this rather plain looking wooden structure, an important part of Kansas history was formed.  On the second floor the "Lecompton Constitution" was drafted which would have brought Kansas into the United States as a slave state.  These were the late 1850's and the territory of Kansas had become a lightning rod in the storm clouds gathering just before the Civil War.  Pro-slavery forces were never in the majority in Kansas, but through political maneuvers, violence and bullying, they were able to form a territorial government and draft a constitution.   This building was for all practical purposes the capitol of Kansas for that brief period. 

It was from this desk in a corner of the first floor that all land transactions in the territory of Kansas took place for about a year and a half in the late 1850's.  Note the original rough sawn cottonwood floor.  At other places in the building, you can see original lumber and construction.  Many a heated argument took place in this land office over prime pieces of land which had been claimed at the same time by several individuals.  Some of these arguments had violent conclusions.  This was way out on the frontier in those days, and the law sometimes came down to who was faster with a gun or better in a fight.

This is the room on the second story were the pro-slavery constitution was written.  The territory was known as "Bleeding Kansas" during the period leading up the the Civil War.   Many atrocities were committed by zealots on both sides of the slavery issue.   This period, including the Civil War, was a pivotal point in American History when the world as we know it today could have easily been unalterably changed.  Certainly a divided United States could have never become the world power it is today.  Still, the wound that had festered since colonial times--slavery--had to be cauterized by the hot iron of the Civil War.  The failure of the "Lecompton Constitution" and the eventual joining of Kansas to the Union as a Free State pushed the South toward withdrawing from the United States and the start of the Civil War.

Started in 1855 as the State Capitol of Kansas at Lecompton, construction was halted in 1857 with the failure of the pro-slavery constitution.  The uncompleted building stood empty for a time until it was completed an put to use as Lane University which operated until 1902 .  It was while attending the University that the parents of future President Dwight Eisenhower met and married.  A small museum and gift shop are now operated in the historic building.   It is also used as a community hall by the citizens of Lecompton.

This is an artist's drawing of the period showing what the completed capitol was going to look like.  A lot of other things would have looked quite different today if the pro-slavery constitution would have succeeded with Lecompton as the Capitol and Kansas entering the Union as a Slave State.

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