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THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION.
|, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
MARCH 10, 1858.
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Mr, Stepuens, of Georgia, from the Select Committee of Fifteen, made
the following
REPORT.
Lhe select committee of fifteen appointed under the resolution of the-House
of the 8th of February, to whom was referred the message of the Pres-
ident of the United States of the 2d of February, concerning the con-
stitution framed at Lecompton, in the Lerritory of Kansas, by a
convention of delegates thereof, and the papers accompanying - the
~same,”’ with instructions ‘to inquire into all’ the. Jacts connected with
«the formation of said constitution, and the laws under which the same
originated ; and into all such facts and proceedings as have transpired
since the formation of said constitution having relation to the question
or propriety of the admission of said Lerritory into the Union under
said constitution; and whether the same ts acceptable and satisfactory
to the majority of legal voters of Kansas,’ have had all the matters
' committed to them under consideration, and now present the following
report: . _ Oe ad
ee
~ The leading object of the resolution under which the committee was
raised seems to have been the ascertainment of all the essential facts
bearing upon the question or propriety of the admission of Kansas as
a State under the Lecompton constitution, in accordance with the
recommendation of the President. This object has been the control-
ling principle of the committee’s action in their investigation, The
scope of their duties embraced an inquiry into all facts relating to the
legality and regularity of the proceedings resulting in the formation
of that constitution, both antecedent and subsequent thereto, showing
whether or not it be the embodiment of the legally and fairly ex-
pressed will of the bona fide citizens of Kansas. With this’ under-
standing of the field of labor before them, the committee directed their
attention— a Jobs seta
_ Ist. To a law passed by the ‘territorial legislature providing for
taking the sense of the people at the October election in 1856, upon
the expediency of calling a convention to form a State constitution.
2d, The law of the Territory passed the 19th’ of February, 1857, in
wap eel.
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