Historic Lecompton

There is a lot of history in Lecompton, Kansas! We have two museums--Constitution Hall (319 Elmore Street) and the Territorial Capital Museum (640 E. Plus lots of historic sites around town to visit. And lots of things to do: http://www.lecomptonkansas.com/things-to-do-in-lecompton/

Lecompton was the capital of Kansas Territory. The happenings in the Kansas Territory caused a rupture in the relations of the North and South. There was constant conflict between the pro-slavery and free-state factions. Lecompton was considered the center of the pro-slavery movement, which of course was unsuccessful. Kansas entered the Union on January 29, 1861, as a free state, and the Civil War began. Lecompton was founded in 1854 and platted on a bluff on the south bank of the Kansas River. It was originally called "Bald Eagle," but then later changed to Lecompton in honor of Samuel D. Lecompte, the chief justice of the territorial supreme court. In 1855, the town became the permanent and only official capital of the Kansas Territory. President James Buchanan appointed a governor and officials to establish government offices in Lecompton, and construction began on an elegant capitol building which later became Lane University and then the Territorial Capital Museum

In the fall of 1857 a convention met in Constitution Hall and drafted the famous Lecompton Constitution, which would have admitted Kansas as a slave state. The constitution was rejected after intense national debate and was one of the prime topics of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The controversy contributed to the growing dispute soon to erupt in civil war. The Lecompton Constitution failed, in part, because the antislavery party won control of the territorial legislature in the election of 1857. The new legislature met at Constitution Hall and immediately began to abolish the pro-slavery laws. The victorious free-state leaders chose Topeka as capital when Kansas became a state in 1861.