What was thus taking place at Lawrence happened elsewhere, so that by October, 1854, that part of Kansas along the Missouri River was held by the slave-state men, and the part south of the Kansas River by the free-state men.[1]

[Footnote 1:  The proslavery towns were Atchison, Leavenworth, Lecompton, Kickapoo.  The antislavery towns were Lawrence, Topeka, Manhattan, Waubunsee, Hampden, Ossawatomie.]

In November of the same year the struggle began.  There was to be an election of a territorial delegate[1] to represent Kansas in Congress, and a day or two before the time set for it the Missourians came over the border in armed bands, took possession of the polls, voted illegally, and elected a proslavery delegate.

[Footnote 1:  Each territory is allowed to send a delegate to the House of Representatives, where he can speak, but not vote.]

%388.  Kansas a Slave Territory.%—­The election of members of the territorial legislature took place in March, 1855, and for this the Missourians made great preparations.  On the principle of popular sovereignty the people of Kansas were to decide whether the territory should be slave or free.  Should the majority of the legislature consist of free-state men, then Kansas would be a free territory.  Should a majority of proslavery men be chosen, then Kansas was doomed to have slavery fastened on her, and this the Missourians determined should be done.  For weeks before the election, therefore, the border counties of Missouri were all astir.  Meetings were held, and secret societies, called Blue Lodges, were formed, the members of which were pledged to enter Kansas on the day of election, take possession of the polls, and elect a proslavery legislature.  The plan was strictly carried out, and as election day drew near, the Missourians, fully armed, entered Kansas in companies, squads, and parties, like an invading army, voted, and then went home to Missouri.  Every member of the legislature save one was a proslavery man, and when that body met, all the slave laws of Missouri were adopted and slavery was formally established in Kansas.

%389.  The Topeka Free-State Constitution.%—­The free-state men repudiated the bogus legislature, held a convention at Topeka, made a free-state constitution, and submitted it to the popular vote.  The people having ratified it (of course no proslavery men voted), a governor and legislature were chosen.  When the legislature met, senators were elected and Congress was asked to admit Kansas into the Union as a state.

%390.  Personal Liberty Laws; the Underground Railroad.%—­The feeling of the people of the free states toward slavery can be seen from many signs.  The example set by Vermont in 1850 was followed in 1854 by Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Michigan, and in 1855 by Maine and Massachusetts, in each of which were passed “Personal Liberty laws,” designed to prevent free negroes from being carried into slavery on the claim that they were fugitive slaves.  Certain state officers were required to act as counsel for any one arrested as a fugitive, and to see that he had a fair trial by jury.  To seize a free negro with intent to reduce him to slavery was made a crime.