1850,

In 1850 the boundaries of the Indian country were as follows: On the east, the present western boundaries of the States of Missouri and Arkansas; on the south, the Red river; on the west, the twenty-third meridian (100th Greenwich) as far north as the Arkansas river, and along that river to the intersection of the Rocky Mountains and the twenty-ninth meridian (106th Greenwich), and along that meridian northward to the proposed southern boundary of the original Territory of Nebraska, which became the northern limit of this country. Within these limits, however, is included that part of the territory ceded by Texas to the United States which was not included in the Territory of New Mexico, being a parcel of land between the Arkansas river on the north and the present northernmost boundary of the State of Texas, and between the twenty-third and twenty-sixth meridians (100th and 103d Greenwich). Including this latter territory, the area of the Indian country at 1850 was 195,274 square miles. By act of May 30, 1854, the Territory of Kansas was erected, and its southern boundary, from the State of Missouri to the twenty-third meridian (100th Greenwich), became the northern limit of the Indian country. The limits of the Indian country remain as they were left by that act; area, 68,991 square miles. A part of the territory above mentioned as ceded by the State of Texas was included in the Territory of Kansas.U. S. Census Report, 1870, Vol. I, p. 577.

Military road established by the Government from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Kearney.

1851.

SEPTEMBER 17.-Treaty with the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. The boundaries of their country are thus defined: "Commencing at the Red Butte, or the place where the road leaves the North fork of the Platte river, thence up the North fork of the Platte river to its source, thence along the main ridge of the Rocky Mountains to the head-waters of the Arkansas river, thence down the Arkansas river to the crossing of the Santa Fe road, thence in a northwesterly direction to the forks of the Platte river, thence up the Platte river to the place of beginning."

1852.

JULY 31.—T. T. Fauntleroy, Colonel of First Dragoons, while in Washington, writes a letter to Major Gen. T. S. Jessup, Quartermaster General, U. S. A. He says: "Some time since," as commanding officer of the post 'at Fort Leavenworth, I. T.," he refused to recommend an expenditure for repairs, etc., there, because he "did not consider that post as best suited for the military operations in that quarter." He urges the establishment of a military post "at or near a point on the Kansas river where the Republican fork unites with it"- now Fort Riley. He urges "the discontinuance of the Leavenworth, Scott, Atkinson, Kearney and Laramie posts,” and the concentration of troops at the post proposed.—A military camp, called Camp Centre, was soon made at this place.

DECEMBER 13.-Willard P. Hall, of Missouri, offers in the House a bill organizing the Territory of Platte (embracing Kansas and Nebraska).

1853.

FEBRUARY 2.—William A. Richardson, of Illinois, from the Committee on Territories, reports a bill organizing the Territory of Nebraska. FEBRUARY 10.-Richardson's bill passes the House by 98 to 43. Neither

Hall's nor Richardson's bills proposed to make the new Territory Slave territory.

FEBRUARY 17.-Stephen A. Douglas, in the Senate, reports Richardson's bill without amendment.

MARCH 3.-The Senate puts the Richardson-Douglas bill on the table by 23 to 17.

MARCH 4.-Franklin Pierce inaugurated.

Fort Riley established. It is in latitude 39° 03′ 38; longitude 96° 24′ 36; elevation above the Gulf of Mexico, 926 feet. Major Ogden superintends the building of the fort.

JULY 28.-In 1855, a correspondent of the Chicago Press made the statement that a convention was held at Wyandotte July 28, 1853, a Territorial government organized, and a Delegate to Congress nominated. Abelard Guthrie was put forward by the friends of Thomas H. Benton, and Rev. Thomas Johnson by the friends of D. R. Atchison. Guthrie received the nomination. Late in the fall, Thomas Johnson was brought out as a candidate, and was elected by Indian votes. He went to Washington, but the Territory was not organized, and he was not received as a Delegate. The Washington Union spoke of him as "the Rev. Thomas Johnson, a noble specimen of a Western man."

DECEMBER 4.-Augustus C. Dodge, of Iowa, offers in the Senate a bill to organize the Territory of Nebraska.

TERRITORIAL ORGANIZATION.

1854.

JANUARY 4.-Stephen A. Douglas reports Senator Dodge's bill, with material amendments.

JANUARY 23.—Senator Douglas reports a substitute for his former bill, providing for the organization of two Territories, Nebraska and Kansas. The important provision of the bill is the following, copied from section 32:

"That the constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the said Territory of Kansas as elsewhere within the United States, except the eighth section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March sixth, eighteen hundred and twenty, which, being inconsistent with the principle of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States and Territories, as recognized by the legislation of eighteen hundred and fifty, commonly called the Compromise Measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void; it being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation which may have existed prior to the act of the sixth of March, eighteen hundred and twenty, either protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery." Mr. Douglas advocates his revolutionary measure as embodying "the great principle of Squatter Sovereignty, or non-intervention."

MARCH 2.-Salmon P. Chase thinks the sovereign squatters ought to be free to have freedom. He offers this addition to the 32d section (following the words, "subject only to the Constitution of the United States"):

"Under which the people of the Territory, through their appropriate representatives, may, if they see fit, prohibit the existence of Slavery therein."

Only ten Senators vote for this provision; thirty-six Senators vote against it.

An amendment offered by Mr. Chase, enabling the people of these Territories to choose their own Governor, is also voted down.

The following is copied from Greeley's American Conflict, vol. I, p. 235:

'Within the three months immediately preceding the passage of the Kansas bill, treaties were quietly made at Washington with the Delawares, Otoes, Kickapoos, Kaskaskias, Shawnees, Sacs, Foxes, and other tribes, whereby the greater part of the soil of Kansas lying within one or two hundred miles of the Missouri border was suddenly opened to White appropriation and settlement. These simultaneous purchases of Indian lands by the Government, though little was known of them elsewhere, were thoroughly understood and appreciated by the Missourians of the Western border, who had for some time been organizing 'Blue Lodges,' 'Social Bands,' 'Sons of the South,' and other societies, with intent to take possession of Kansas in behalf of Slavery. They were well assured, and they fully believed, that the object contemplated and desired, in lift

ing, by the terms of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, the interdict of slavery from Kansas, was to authorize and facilitate the legal extension of slavery into that region. Within a few days after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska açt, hundreds of leading Missourians crossed into the adjacent Territory, selected each his quarter-section or larger area of land, put some sort of mark on it, and then united with his fellow adventurers in a meeting or meetings intended to establish a sort of Missouri pre-emption upon all this region. Among the resolves passed at one of these meetings were the following:

"That we will afford protection to no Abolitionist as a settler of this Territory.' "That we recognize the institution of Slavery as already existing in this Territory, and advise slaveholders to introduce their property as early as possible.'"

MARCH 3.-The Kansas-Nebraska bill passes the Senate by 37 to 14. MARCH 15.-The Ottoe and Missouria Indians cede to the United States all their country west of the Missouri river, excepting a strip of land on the waters of the Big Blue river, ten miles in width.

APRIL 26.—The following is copied from the Report, made in 1856, by the Congressional Investigating Committee:

"In April [the 26th], 1854, the General Assembly of Massachusetts passed an act entitled 'An act to incorporate the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society.' The object of the Society, as declared in the first section of this act, was 'for the purpose of assisting emigrants to settle in the West.' The nominal capital of the corporation was not to exceed five millions of dollars, but no more than four per cent. could be assessed during the year 1854, and no more than ten per cent. in any one year thereafter. No organization was perfected or proceedings had under this law.

"On the 24th day of July, 1854, certain persons in Boston, Massachusetts, concluded articles of agreement and association for an Emigrant Aid Society. The purpose of this association was declared to be, 'assisting emigrants to settle in the West.' Under these articles of association each stockholder was individually liable. To avoid this difficulty, an application was made to the General Assembly of Massachusetts for an act of incorporation, which was granted. On the 21st day of February, 1855, an act was passed to incorporate the New England Emigrant Aid Company. The purpose of this act was declared to be, 'directing emigration westward, and aiding and providing accommodation after arriving at their place of destination.' The capital stock of the corporation was not to exceed one million of dollars. Under this charter a company was organized."

APRIL 26.-The incorporators under the act of this date creating the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company are Benjamin C. Clark, Isaac Livermore, Charles Allen, Isaac Davis, William G. Bates, Stephen C. Phillips, Charles C. Hazewell, Alex. H. Bullock, Henry Wilson, James S. Whitney, Samuel E. Sewall, Samuel G. Howe, James Holland, Moses Kimball, James D. Green, Francis W. Bird, Otis Clapp, Anson Burlingame, Eli Thayer, and Otis Rich. One of the most active men in securing the organization was Eli Thayer.

MAY 6.-The Delaware Indians cede to the United States their lands in Kansas, excepting the country sold to the Wyandottes, and excepting the part "lying east and south of a line beginning at a point on the line between the land of the Delawares and the half-breed Kanzas, forty miles in a direct line west to the boundary between the Delawares and Wyandottes, thence north ten miles, thence in an easterly course to a point on the south bank of Big Island creek," on the Missouri river.

MAY 10.-The Shawnees cede to the United States the tract of land set apart for them November 7, 1825, and conveyed to the tribe by deed May 11, 1844, containing 1,600,000 acres, excepting 200,000 acres for homes for the Shawnee people.

MAY 17.-The Ioway tribe of Indians cede to the United States the small strip of land lying between the Kickapoo land and the Grand Nemahaw river, containing 400 sections, but reserving a portion for a permanent home.

MAY 18.-The Kickapoos cede their land in Kansas to the United States, except the western part, containing 150,000 acres.

MAY 22.-Vote on the passage of the bill to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas.

The House voted May 22. The ayes are as follows, from the Free States: Maine, McDonald; New Hampshire, Hibbard; Connecticut, Ingersoll; New York, Cumming, Cutting, Rowe, Taylor, Tweed (William M.), Walbridge, Walker, Walsh, Westbrook; Pennsylvania, Bridges, Dawson, Florence, Jones, Kurtz, McNair, Packer, Robbins, Straub, Witte, Wright; New Jersey, Lilly, Vail; Ohio, Disney, Green, Olds, Shannon (Wilson); Indiana, Davis, Dunham, Eddy, English, Hendricks (Thos. A.), Lane (James H.), Miller; Illinois, Allen (James C.), Allen (Willis), Richardson; Michigan, Clark, Stuart; Iowa, Henn; California, Latham, McDougall-from the Free States, 44.

From the Slave States: Delaware, Riddle; Maryland, Hamilton, May, Shower, Vansant; Virginia, Bayly, Bocock, Caskie, Edmundson, Faulkner, Goode, Kidwell, Letcher, Powell, Smith (William), Snodgrass; North Carolina, Ashe, Craige, Clingman, Kerr, Ruffin, Shaw; South Carolina, Boyce, Brooks (Preston S.), Orr; Georgia, Bailey, Chastain, Colquitt, Hillyer, Reese, Stephens (Alex. H.); Alabama, Abercrombie, Cobb, Dowdell, Harris, Houston, Phillips, Smith; Mississippi, Barry, Barksdale, Singleton, Wright; Louisiana, Dunbar, Jones, Perkins; Kentucky, Breckinridge (John C.), Chrisman, Cox, Hill, Elliott, Grey, Preston, Stanton; Tennessee, Churchwell, Jones, Ready, Smith, Stanton (Frederick P.), Zollicoffer; Missouri, Lamb, Lindley, Miller, Oliver (Mordecai), Phelps (John S.); Arkansas, Greenwood, Warren; Florida, Maxwell; Texas, Bell, Smythfrom the Slave States, 69. Total ayes, from Free and Slave States, 113.

The noes are as follows, from the Free States: Maine, Benson, Farley, Fuller, Mayall, Washburn; New Hampshire, Kittredge, Morrison; Massachusetts, Banks (N. P.), Crocker, De Witt, Dickinson, Edmands, Eliot, Goodrich, Upham, Walley, Wentworth; Rhode Island, Davis, Thurston; Connecticut, Belcher, Pratt, Seymour; Vermont, Meacham, Sabin, Tracy; New York, Bennett, Carpenter, Dean, Lyon, Fenton (Reuben E.), Flagler, Hastings, Haven, Hughes, Jones, Matteson, Morgan (Edwin B.), Murray, Oliver, Peck, Peckham, Perkins, Pringle, Sage, Simmons, Smith (Gerrit), Wheeler; New Jersey, Pennington, Skelton, Stratton; Pennsylvania, Chandler, Curtis, Dick, Drum, Everhart, Gamble, Grow (Galusha A.), Hiester, Howe, McCulloch, Middleswarth, Ritchie, Russell, Trout; Ohio, Ball, Campbell (Lewis D.), Edgerton, Ellison, Giddings (Joshua R.), Harlan, Harrison, Johnson, Lindsley, Nichols, Ritchey, Sapp, Stuart, Taylor, Wade (Edward); Indiana, Harlan, Mace, Parker; Illinois, Knox, Norton, Washburne (E. B.), Wentworth (John), Yates (Richard); Michigan, Noble, Stevens; Wisconsin, Eastman, Wells-from the Free States, 91.

From the Slave States: Virginia, Millson; North Carolina, Puryear,