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The Result in Kansas

About This Item

  • Title: The Result in Kansas
  • Date: 12 August 1858
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.00839
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 12 August 1858: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kaylen Michaelis Thara Michaelis Tara Ballard Stephanie Blalock Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "The Result in Kansas." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 17 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.00839.xml (TEI)
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THE RESULT IN KANSAS.—

The returns received from Kansas indicate the rejection of the Lecompton Constitution,1 by the people of the territory, by a large majority. The vote appears to have been a full one; the election to have passed off quietly, and the decision of the people to have been rendered under circumstances highly favorable to a fair and unbiased expression of the popular will. With the rejection of the Lecompton Constitution, falls to the ground the entire fabric of the State Government constructed with so much pains and trouble by General Calhoun2 and his associates; and the incipient State relapses into her former territorial condition, there to remain, according to the provision of the English bill,3 until her population shall number the full ratio of 93,000 souls, required in order to entitle her to one member of the House of Representatives. Whether the people of Kansas will quietly submit to be thus remanded into a state of pupilage and territorial dependence, remains to be seen.

Notes:

1. The Lecompton Constitution of 1857 was written by pro-slavery forces in Kansas. President Buchanan supported it and it was eventually approved by the Senate, but dismissed by the House. Ultimately, Kansas held another local election which resulted in the Constitution’s final rejection. [back]

2. John Calhoun (1806–1859) was a pro-slavery politician appointed to surveyor general of Nebraska and Kansas in 1854 and president of the Lecompton Constitutional Convention in 1857. [back]

3. Perceived by some to be a bribe, the English Bill was presented on 23 April 1858 by Democratic representative William H. English in effort to make compromises regarding the Territory should the Lecompton Constitution be accepted by the Kansan voters. [back]

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