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Title: From Charles Sumner to My Dear Hale
Description: Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner writes a letter from Washington to "My dear Hale" on March 1, 1856. Sumner criticizes Stephen A. Douglas, Lewis Cass, and the Know Nothing Party, and worries that "this Congress will do nothing for the benefit of Kansas." He expresses concern that Kansas will not be admitted to the Union due to its small population and the lack of support for its constitution.
Date: March 1, 1856

Title: Indictment Against Andrew Reeder et al.
Description: This indictment was issued against Andrew H. Reeder, Charles Robinson, James H. Lane, George W. Brown, George W. Dietzler, George W. Smith, Samuel N. Wood, and Gaius Jenkins for the crime of treason. The indictment, issued October 4, 1856 by the 3rd U.S. District Court of Kansas Territory, accuses Reeder and the others of “unlawfully and traitorously” assembling for the purpose of “overthrowing and subverting by force and violence” the government of Kansas Territory, among other crimes.
Object Type: Legal Document
Date: October 4, 1856

Title: Andrew H. Reeder
Description: Portrait of Andrew H. Reeder, first governor of the Kansas Territory.
Object Type: Image
Date: n.d.

Title: From James Griffing to Augusta
Description: This July 9, 1855 letter was written by James Griffing at Ottawa Creek, Kansas, to Augusta. James writes that he is “travelling the rounds of another preacher’s circuit,” currently staying with an Ottawa Indian named “Jones” (possibly “Ottawa Jones”). James criticizes the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Bogus Legislature, and describes an inspiring speech given by Charles Robinson in Lawrence, Kansas on Independence Day.
Date: July 9, 1855

Title: Petition to Set Aside Election for Delegate
Description: This petition, addressed to Kansas Gov. Andrew Reeder, concerns the November 29, 1854 election for Congressional Delegate. The petitioners argue that a large number of Missouri citizens illegally voted in the Kansas election. They ask Reeder to either cast out the votes from the district where Missourians voted, or to nullify the entire election. The petition is signed by 77 residents of Kansas Territory.
Object Type: Petition
Date: 1854

Title: From Edward Fitch to Dear Father
Description: Edward Fitch writes a letter to his father on September 19, 1855, four days after the Bogus Legislature’s Gag Law has gone into effect. He says he attended a meeting where he and others illegally spoke out against the Gag Law. He adds that Governor Shannon showed up “but refused to speak . . . he is a Dough face, Dough head + a Fool Knave Rascal and all.”
Date: September 19, 1855

Title: Kansas Election! Qualification of Voters
Description: This broadside, printed ca. March 1855, includes a copy of an oath that all judges are ordered to take before presiding over an upcoming election in Kansas. The oath, written by Gov. Reeder, states that the judges will keep an accurate record of voters and will not allow non-residents to vote. The unsigned author of the broadside criticizes Reeder’s wording, questions his intentions, and challenges the legality of Reeder’s order for voters to prove their residency.

Title: Description of Territorial Seal
Description: This is an excerpt from a newspaper article published in January 1855 by the Easton Argus in Easton, Pennsylvania. The article describes the Territorial Seal of Kansas, which was engraved by Robert Lovett of Philadelphia according to the design of Kansas Gov. Andrew Reeder. The article declares that the motto “is a beautiful allusion to the principle on which the Territory was organized, and consists of ‘Populi voce,’ thus translated—Born of the popular will.”
Object Type: Newspaper Article
Date: January 1855

Title: From W.W. to M.
Description: On June 22, 1856, W.W. writes from Washington to "M." (possibly Matthew Walker). W.W. reports that Gen. Whitfield arrived in Washington with several other men from Kansas, who "maintained a most singular and studied reserve" when they saw him. He adds that "the Abolition members are woefully down in the mouth about the availability of Sharp's rifles in Kansas. Pomeroy, Roberts and Eldridge have arrived, but no Gov. Reeder."
Object Type: Letter
Date: June 22, 1856

Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865