1844
The Potawatomi tribe was granted 570,000 acres of land. A new reservation was established for Eastern Indians of Kansas.
1849
Business was booming around the Missouri River, as people were heading for the California mines.
May 1854
The Excel, the first navigating steamboat on the Kansas River, carried more than a thousand barrels of flour. Also, the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the Kansas Territory for settlement, and empowered states to decide whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.
Sep 1854
A second New England group arrived in Kansas and settled in what became the city of Lawrence. The first newspaper in Kansas, the Leavenworth Herald, was published.
1855
Prefabricated homes were being built in the Kansas Territory while Territorial Governor Andrew Reeder ordered the first legislature to convene. Also, the laws enacted by the so-called “Bogus Legislature” came into effect.
Jan 1856
Settlers found enough timber to provide houses, rail fences, and fuel east of the Flint Hills.
July 1856
The U.S. Senate denied Kansas admission into the Union. Abolitionist John Brown, along with 40 other Free-Staters, unsuccessfully defended the town of Osawatomie from 300 border ruffians.
Jan 1857
Settlement began in Quindaro. The free-state legislature met at Topeka while the slave-state legislature met in Lecompton to re-organize the territory’s “Law and Order” party.
Feb 1857
Governor John W. Geary, fearing assassination and other threats, requested federal military protection as the Bleeding Kansas violence continued to spin out of control.
June 1857
Pro-slavery Democrat James Buchanan defeated John C. Fremont to become the 15th President of the United States. Justice Roger Taney delivered the Supreme Court decision of the Dred Scott case, which held that a negro whose ancestors were sold as slaves could not be American citizens.
Dec 1857
The pro-slavery Lecompton constitution was submitted to Kansas voters, who voted against it.
Jan 1858
In a second referendum vote, Kansas voters voted down the Lecompton Constitution by a vote of 10,226 to 138.
May 1858
Voters approved the Leavenworth Constitution, which extended equal rights to all men, regardless of race, and extended some additional rights to women. Also, in the Marais des Cygnes Massacre, Border Ruffians opened fire on Free-Staters.
June 1858
The last issue of the Chindowan was published. Abraham Lincoln gave his House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois.
July 1859
Delegates assembled at Wyandotte to draw up a state constitution at a constitutional convention. Women’s rights activist and former assistant editor of the Chindowan presented a petition calling for equal political and civil rights for Kansas women.
Oct 1859
The United States Senate rejected the bill that would have given statehood to Kansas.
March 1860
The United States Congress passed a bill that provided inexpensive land for settlers in western territories including Kansas.
Jan 1861
President James Buchanan signed a bill that admitted Kansas to the Union as a free state. Later, at Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, President Lincoln raised the United States flag bearing a 34th star to honor Kansas as the newest state.
April 1861
Confederate General Beauregard ordered that the first guns of the Civil War be fired at Fort Sumter.
April 1862
The Kansas State Legislature revoked Quindaro’s incorporation, and the Quindaro Township never revitalized.