Constitution Hall is built in Lecompton in…

Constitution Hall is built in Lecompton in 1855 to accommodate the proslavery Territorial Legislature.

Sponsors of the Kansas-Nebraska Act had expected its provisions for territorial self-government to arrest the “torrent of fanaticism”that had been dividing the nation regarding the slavery issue.

Instead, free-soil forces from the North have formed armed emigrant associations to populate Kansas, while proslavery advocates continue to pour over the border from Missouri.

Each side forms regulating associations and guerrilla bands, and only the intervention of the Governor prevents violence in the Wakarusa “War”, launched in December 1855 over the murder of an antislavery settler along the Wakarusa River near Lawrence.