Recent events have Americans reevaluating their lives. Freedom is a relative thing. It comes with a cost, and as it is with all things, “You get what you pay for.” The following is a reprint from the January 2000 Kansas Cowboy, a paper that was published from 1995-2015. Some things are timeless...

The tumult that was Kansas was on everyone’s mind in 1860. The U.S. Senate had refused to admit Kansas as a state. It was said that the influence of the proslavery camp had waylaid Kansas statehood.

Kansas became a national political issue as the Republican National Convention met that year. Out of 17 planks, three mentioned Kansas by name and three others referred to it. The party declared, “Kansas shall of right be immediately admitted as a state.”

Abraham Lincoln’s debates with Senator Stephen Douglas brought him to prominence, partially due to Lincoln’s stance on the admission of Kansas. Douglas had authored the Kansas/Nebraska Act, opening the lands for settlement pursuant to statehood.

Kansas statehood was deeply embedded in the political careers of both men. Lincoln had visited Kansas in December 1859 to observe the situation for himself. Speaking at Elwood, Troy, Atchison and Leavenworth, he expressed a great desire for freedom for Kansas.

The election of Lincoln to the office of President of the United States caused 11 states to withdraw from the Union. As each state seceded, its senators and representatives resigned. When Jefferson Davis resigned his Senate seat on Jan. 21, 1861, the bill for admission of Kansas to the Union was taken up and passed. President Buchanan was still in office and signed the bill on Jan. 29, 1861.

The Leavenworth Conservative, founded only the day before, was the first paper in Kansas to publish the news. The only telegraph service in the state was at Leavenworth and Atchison, so D.R. Anthony, co-owner of the Conservative, loaded his saddlebags with papers and headed through fresh snow to Lawrence where the territorial legislature was in session. The news quickly spread through Lawrence. A group of men rolled out “Old Sacramento,” a cannon that had been captured from the Missourians during the Border Wars. Powder was rammed into the old cannon as the new state celebrated to the deep roar of its blast.

On Feb. 22, 1861, president-elect Lincoln hoisted the first U.S. flag bearing the 34th star of Kansas to the top of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. It was George Washington’s birthday.

Perhaps no other state suffered to the degree that Kansas did to become a state. The struggle was indeed bloody, gaining her the name “Bleeding Kansas.” With that in mind, the secretary of the first Kansas State Senate suggested the Latin motto “Ad Astra Per Aspera” be affixed to the State Seal. “To The Stars Through Difficulties” was meant to be a motto we, as Kansans, could live by; one that inspires the best in us all. Let us never forget the foundation on which we were formed, and may our future surpass the past as we turn our eyes “To The Stars…”

“The Cowboy” Jim Gray can be reached at 220 21st Rd., Geneseo, KS 67444, (785) 531-2058 or kansascowboy@ kans.com.