y the actual settlers, but by the citizens of
Missouri; and, as a consequence, every officer in the territory,
from constable to legislator, except those appointed by the President,
owed his position to non-resident voters. None were elected by
the settlers, and no political power whatever, however important,
was exercised by the people of the territory.

In October, 1854, the Governor of Kansas, A. H. Reeder, and other
officers appointed by the President, arrived in the territory.
Settlers from all parts of the country came in great number, entering
their claims and building their cabins. The first election was
for delegate to Congress and was held on the 29th of November,
1854. The governor divided the territory into seventeen election
districts, appointed judges, and prescribed proper rules for the
election. The report of the committee enters into full details as
to this election and all subsequent thereto in each district. The
conduct of the election in the second district, held at the village
of Douglas, nearly fifty miles from the Missouri line, is a fair
specimen of all the elections in Kansas. The report says:

"On the second day before the election large companies of men came
into the district in wagons and on horseback, and declared that
they were from the State of Missouri, and were going to Douglas to
vote. On the morning of the election they gathered around the
house where the election was to be held. Two of the judges appointed
by the governor did not appear, and other judges were selected by
the crowd; all then voted. In order to make a pretense of right
to vote, some persons of the company kept a pretended register of
squatter claims, on which anyone could enter his name, and then
assert he had a claim in the territory. A citizen of the district,
who was himself a candidate for delegate to Congress was told by
one of the strangers that he would be abused, and probably killed,
if he challenged a vote. He was seized by the collar, called a
damned Abolitionist, and was compelled to seek protection in the
room with the judges. About the time the polls were closed these
strangers mounted their horses and got into their wagons and cried
out, 'All aboard for Westport.' A number were recognized as
residents of Missouri, and among them was Samuel H. Woodson, a
leading lawyer of Independence. Of those whose names are on the
poll-books, 35 were resident settlers and 226 were non-residents."

In Ja