Editing Kansas Territory (section)

{{Short description|Territory of the United States between 1854 and 1861}}
{{For|the 1952 film|Kansas Territory (film)}}
{{See also|Bleeding Kansas}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2013}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox Former subdivision
|conventional_long_name = Territory of Kansas
|common_name = Kansas Territory
|nation      = United States
|subdivision = [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|Organized incorporated territory]]
|
|event_pre   =
|date_pre    =
|year_pre    =
|event_start = [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]]
|date_start  = May 30
|year_start  = 1854
|event_end   = [[Kansas|Statehood]]
|date_end    = January 29
|year_end    = 1861
|p1          = Territories of the United States#Formerly unorganized territories{{!}}Unorganized territory
|flag_p1     = U.S. flag, 31 stars.svg
|s1          = Kansas
|flag_s1     = Flag_of_Kansas_(1927-1961).svg
|s2          = Colorado Territory
|flag_s2     = US flag 33 stars.svg
|image_flag  =
|image_coat  =
|symbol_type =
|image_map   = Kansasterritory.PNG
|image_map_caption =
|
|capital      = [[Pawnee, Kansas|Pawnee]] (provisional; July 2–6, 1855)<br/>[[Fort Leavenworth]] (provisional)<br />[[Lecompton, Kansas|Lecompton]] (1855–61)<br />[[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]] (''de facto'', 1858–1861)
|government_type = Organized incorporated territory
|title_leader = Governor
|leader1      = ''[[List of Governors of Kansas#Territorial governors|List]]''
|legislature  =
}}

{{Historical populations
|type= USA
|1860|107206
|footnote=Source: 1860;<ref>{{cite report|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|title=Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990|page=3|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/PopulationofStatesandCountiesoftheUnitedStates1790-1990.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2020}}</ref>
}}

The '''Territory of Kansas''' was an [[organized incorporated territory of the United States]] that existed from May 30, 1854,<ref>{{USStat|10|277}}</ref> until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the [[United States|Union]] as the [[Slave and free states|free state]] of [[Kansas]]. The territory extended from the [[Missouri]] border west to the summit of the [[Rocky Mountains]] and from the [[37th parallel north]] to the [[40th parallel north]]. Originally part of [[Missouri Territory]], it was unorganized from 1821 to 1854. Much of the eastern region of what is now the [[Colorado|State of Colorado]] was part of Kansas Territory. The [[Territory of Colorado]] was created to govern this western region of the former Kansas Territory on February 28, 1861.

The question of whether Kansas was to be a free or a slave state was, according to the [[Compromise of 1850]] and the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]], to be decided by [[popular sovereignty]], that is, by vote of the Kansans. The question of which Kansans were eligible to vote led to an armed-conflict period called [[Bleeding Kansas]]. Both pro-slavery and free-state partisans encouraged and sometimes financially supported emigration to Kansas, so as to influence the vote. During part of the territorial period there were two territorial legislatures, with two constitutions, meeting in two cities (one capital was burned by partisans of the other capital). Two applications for statehood, one free and one slave, were sent to the U.S. Congress. The departure of Southern legislators in January 1861 facilitated Kansas' entry as a free state, later the same month.