HIST348: Peoples of Kansas

You’ve probably never heard of the Legislative (or Populist) War of 1893. I didn’t have time to address it in lecture, but it is one of the more fascinating stories in the history of the Sunflower state.

The state election of 1893 had confusing results. The Populist party claimed a majority of seats in the legislature (crying foul at what they perceived as election fraud), while the rival Republican Party disagreed. As a result of this disagreement two houses, the Douglass House (Republican) and the Dunsmore House (Populist), both conducted state business in Representative Hall on the Capitol grounds, each arguing that they were the legally elected legislative body. As the session wore on, tensions between the two groups escalated. On February 13, 1893, the Populist Dunsmore House barricaded the entrance to the hall and repelled the Republican congressmen who attempted to enter the chambers. The Republican Douglass House, fed up with the situation, beat down the doors of the hall with sledgehammers. The Republicans then recruited six hundred guardsmen (called sergeants-at-arms) to protect the hall; even after an executive order from Governor Lorenzo Lewelling these guards refused to leave the Capitol grounds. Eventually, on February 16, the disgruntled Populists agreed (along with the Republicans) to wait for the state Supreme Court’s verdict. On February 25, the court ruled that the Republican house would maintain control of the legislature. This event, even though it lasted only twelve days, would become known as the Legislative War or the Populist War.

For more about this conflict, check out these primary sources on Kansas Memory. These are just a few of the sources available:

Floyd Bull’s reminiscence
Jeremiah Berger Remington’s postcard
Douglass House, “Statement to the People of Kansas”
Photograph of Douglass House
Photograph of Populist House on the statehouse steps
Governor Lewelling’s Executive Order No. 2
Governor Lewelling’s Executive Order No. 3
Memoranda on the Populist War

This would be an excellent choice for a blogging topic, if you enjoy political topics such as this!