Folks in Lecompton are hoping the new movie "Lincoln" will spark more interest in their historic town.
The movie, which will be released this week, is based on the book "Team of Rivals," by Doris Kearns Goodwin. In that book, events in Kansas and Lecompton that led up to the Civil War are covered.
"Many Kansans are totally unaware of the impact this little town in Kansas had on our nation's history," said Paul Bahnmaier, president of the Lecompton Historical Society.
It was the Lecompton Constitution, which would have admitted Kansas as a slave state and was rejected, that split the national Democratic Party and helped Abraham Lincoln win election in 1860.
The city of Lecompton, located in Douglas County, has about 600 people and several historic sites.
Comments
smarty_pants 5 years, 5 months ago
I think it's strange that Lecompton celebrates Territorial Days, glorifying the town's pro-slavery history. I remember having an African-American student (KU football player) who was encouraged to participate in the Territorial Days parade by his assistant coach (who was history-challenged, I assume). I told my student the history of Lecompton, and he told his coach that he'd rather not attend the "Klan rally" in Lecompton! He got punished...what an irony!
bevy 5 years, 5 months ago
For your information, Territorial Days celebrates Lecompton's heritage as a Territorial Capital of Kansas, not our "pro-slavery history." I personally wish our historical society would focus on other aspects of that history, not just the pre-civil war stuff.
bevy 5 years, 5 months ago
You might also want to consider this information, from Wikipedia, before casting Lecompton folks as racist. Particularly the second sentence.
The territorial legislature, consisting mostly of slave-owners, met at the designated capital of Lecompton in September 1857 to produce a rival document.[1] Free-state supporters, who comprised a large majority of actual settlers, boycotted the vote.
hipper_than_hip 5 years, 5 months ago
If you go to Lecompton, and go to the Territorial Capital Museum, you'll see that they celebrate Lecompton as the place "where slavery began to die." It's a great town with a whole lot of history--history that changed the course of this nation.
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