Lecompton Constitution (Ver Steeg, 1985)

The slavery issue in Kansas surfaced again in 1857. This issue which had already split the North and the South, now split the Democratic Party. President Buchanan asked Congress to accept a state constitution from Kansas Territory that allowed slavery. But antislavery settlers had boycotted the convention that had formed the document. Senator Douglas - Buchanan's major rival in the Democratic party - was against the Kansas constitution. Douglas said that it did not stand for the views of all of Kansas. The Democrats spilt into two groups on the question - one backing Buchanan, the other, Douglas. The Kansas constitution was voted down in Congress. Only in 1861, after fighting had broken out between the North and Sought, did Kansas become a state - a free state.