Kansas State Capitol
Kansas Historical Society
SITE
Visitors Center Address:
SW 8th &, SW Van Buren St,
Topeka, KS 66612
Mon - Fri 8am-5pm
Sat 10am-4pm
Parking - underground, entrance on 8th Ave. btw Harrison and Van Buren
Guided Historic Tours
Monday - Friday: 9 and 11 a.m. and 1 and 3 p.m.
Saturday: 10 and 11 a.m., 1,2, and 3 p.m.
Reservations not needed for groups <10 people
Guided Dome Tours
Mon - Fri - 9:15, 10:15, and 11:15 am.; 1:15, 2:15, and 3:15 p.m.
Sat: 10:15 and 11:15 a.m.; 1:15, 2:15, and 3:15 p.m.
KS Capitol - PDF Map
Curry murals - 2nd Floor
HISTORY
In response to the March elections that elected The Bogus Legislature, free-state leaders held the Topeka Constitutional Convention in October of 1855. The resulting constitution was approved by free-state voters on December 15, 1855. This constitution called for elections which free-state leaders held on January 15, 1856. The free-state legislature met in Topeka on March 4, 1856. This was the election in which Charles Robinson was elected as territorial governor. The President of the United States, Franklin Pierce, called the Free State Legislature unlawful and called for the arrest of its leaders. The President ended up sending Federal troops to Leavenworth in the Kansas Territory.
When the elected members of the free-state government took their oaths of office in Topeka in March, Douglas County Sheriff Samuel J. Jones recorded their names. Everyone expected Jones to arrest them for treason. This would happen later during and immediately following the Sack of Lawrence. The Topeka government persevered and sent James H. Lane to Washington with a petition to the US Congress asking for the admission of Kansas into the Union as a free state. There were many irregularities in the documents, and the debate in congress was heated. Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas attacked the petition as fraudulent. Senator William Seward argued in support of admitting Kansas as a free state. The debate was so virulent that James Lane went so far to challenge Senator Douglas to a duel. Douglas refused to accept the challenge.
NOTABLE PIECES
Tragic Prelude, 1942
John Steuart Curry