Lecompton

Lecompton (ləkŏmp`tən), small town, Douglas co., NE Kans., on the Kansas River between Lawrence and Topeka. The pro-slavery

Lecompton Constitution was formulated (Sept., 1857) there, and was ratified (Dec., 1857) after an election in which voters were given a choice only between limited or unlimited slavery; free state men refused to cast their ballots. President James Buchanan urged Congress to admit Kansas as a slave state under the Lecompton Constitution, but Stephen A. Douglas

Senatorial Career

He was admitted to the bar at Jacksonville, Ill., in 1834. After holding various state and local offices he became a U.S.
.....  and his followers broke with the pro-slavery Democrats, and the bill could not pass the House. At a subsequent election (Aug., 1858), Kansas voters decisively rejected the Lecompton Constitution. Kansas was later (1861) admitted as a free state.