The thirty-three judges appointed by the Government to conduct
the election in the eleven districts, all swore that the returns
contained a true statement of the votes polled by the lawful voters.
The Governor, two weeks after giving certificates of election,
issued his proclamation commanding the members to assemble on the
2d of July. He recognized the legitimacy of the legislature in
his message, invoking the Divine blessing on it and recommending
the passage of important laws. But he afterward quarreled with
the legislature. He then sought to repudiate it and impeach its
validity by charging that it had been elected by Missouri invaders.
The only evidence before the Committee tending to show irregularities
in the election was the hearsay statement of the Governor, which
flatly contradicted his solemn official declarations. The legislature
itself had investigated the elections of all members against whom
contests were filed and its legitimacy was finally and conclusively
established. The malcontents having failed to capture the
legislature, encouraged by Governor Reeder (who had meanwhile been
relieved from office), instituted their rebellious Topeka movement
and, in defiance of the law, attempted to organize a State.
The movement was revolutionary and intended to subvert the existing
Government. Only two laws enacted by the territorial legislature
were complained of as unjust,--that relating to elections and that
relating to slaves. The social, domestic and pecuniary relations
of the people had adjusted themselves to this body of laws which
Congress was asked to annul; and these friends of the negro who had
organized a rebellious State government in his behalf, had adopted
a Constitution which forever excluded him from the State. The
entire trouble in Kansas, he continued, rose not from any vice
inherent in the law, but from abuses of the rights given by it to
the people. The law simply permitted them to form their domestic
institutions in their own way. If that great principle had been
permitted free operation, there would have been no violence or
trouble in Kansas. The good order reigning in Nebraska, where the
law was fairly tried, was sufficient proof of its wisdom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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