The present Constitution of the State of Kansas was originally known as the Wyandotte Constitution to distinguish it from three proposed constitutions that preceded it. The Wyandotte Constitution was drawn up at Wyandotte (now part of Kansas City

Kansas City, Kansas

Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...

) in July 1859, and was the fourth constitution voted on by the people of Kansas Territory

Kansas Territory

The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....

, as the battle between proslavery and antislavery forces during the Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a series of violent events, involving anti-slavery Free-Staters and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of the U.S. state of Missouri roughly between 1854 and 1858...

 era spread to the debate over the terms of the new state's charter.

Adoption

The Wyandotte Constitution was approved in a referendum by a vote of 10,421 to 5,530 on October 4, 1859. In April, 1860, the United States House of Representatives voted 134 to 73 to admit Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution; however, there was resistance in the United States Senate. As slave states seceded from the Union, their senators left their seats and on January 21, 1861, the Senate passed the Kansas bill.

The admission of Kansas as a free state became effective January 29, 1861.

Terms

The constitution settled the terms of Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

' admission to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, particularly establishing that it would be a free state rather than a slave state

Slave state

In the United States of America prior to the American Civil War, a slave state was a U.S. state in which slavery was legal, whereas a free state was one in which slavery was either prohibited from its entry into the Union or eliminated over time...

. The constitution represented a pragmatic compromise over hotly-contested issues: it rejected slavery and affirmed property rights for women and their right to participate in school elections, but also denied universal suffrage

Suffrage

Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...

 for women, blacks, and Indians. The previous proposed state constitutions were the Topeka Constitution

Topeka Constitution

The Topeka Constitutional Convention was held in October 1855 in the town of Topeka, Kansas Territory. The convention was held in the town's Constitution Hall...

 of 1855, the Lecompton Constitution

Lecompton Constitution

The Lecompton Constitution was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas . The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H. Lane and other free-state advocates...

 of 1857 and the Leavenworth Constitution

Leavenworth Constitution

The Leavenworth Constitution was one of four Kansas state constitutions proposed during the era of Bleeding Kansas. The Leavenworth Constitution was drafted by a convention of Free-Staters, and was the most progressive of the four proposed constitutions...

 of 1858.

Amended many times (including a universal suffrage

Universal suffrage

Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...

 amendment in 1912), the Wyandotte constitution is still the constitution of Kansas.

Slavery is directly prohibited;

SEC. 6. There shall be no slavery in this State, and no involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

Preamble