Election Apathy No Problem in 1858

Election Apathy No Problem in 1858

Lawrence, W. W. H.
Swayne, Shirley

Swayne, Shirley

Bleeding Kansas

Border Ruffians

Ottawa Creek

Elections

Newspaper article by John Mark Lambertson and originally published in The Ottawa Herald July 30, 1988. Article tells of 43 free-state men who were so determined to vote on the Lecompton Constitution on August 2, 1858 that they removed their clothing to cross the flooded creeks. The Lecompton Constitution would have allowed Kansas to be admitted to the Union as a slave state. Pre-election excitement ran high bewteen free-state and pro-slavery factions and every effort was made to get out the vote on both sides. There was concern by the free-staters that "Border Ruffians" would try to take over the polls. The Lecompton Constitution was rejected in the election and the way was paved for Kansas to enter the union as a free state.
Newspaper article includes a drawing by Ottawan Shirley Swayne imagining how the "naked voters" looked fording Ottawa Creek.

Lambertson, John Mark

The Ottawa Herald

07/30/1988

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Document

2011.100.09.02

Franklin County, Kansas

1858