STATES AND TERRITORIES OF THE UNITED STATES (KANSAS).

In this post we will looking at Kansas and its territories, Its past and present governors and current House of representative’s members.

INTRODUCTION.

Kansas is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named after the Kansas River, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native Americans who lived along its banks. The tribe’s name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean “people of the (south) wind” although this was probably not the term’s original meaning. For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. The first Euro-American settlement in Kansas occurred in 1827 at Fort Leavenworth. The pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery debate. When it was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854 with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists prevailed, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state, hence the unofficial nickname “The Free State”. By 2015, Kansas was one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles (213,100 square kilometers) is the 15th-largest state by area and is the 36th most-populous of the 50 states, with a population of 2,940,865 according to the 2020 census. Residents of Kansas are called Kansans. Mount Sunflower is Kansas’s highest point at 4,039 feet (1,231 meters).

KANSAS TERRITORIES.

Between 1763 and 1803 the territory of Kansas was integrated into Spanish Louisiana. The governor Luis de Unzaga ‘le Conciliateur’, during that period, promoted expeditions and good relations with the Amerindians, among the explorers were Antoine de Marigny and others who continued trading across the Kansas River, especially at its confluence with the Missouri River, tributaries of the Mississippi River. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was acquired by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican–American War in 1848, when these lands were ceded to the United States. From 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today. In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state. The Kansas–Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory, and opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence the first non-military settlement of Euro-Americans in Kansas Territory consisted of abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters who founded the town of Lawrence and attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Missouri and Arkansas continually sent settlers into Kansas Territory along its eastern border to sway votes in favor of slavery prior to Kansas statehood elections. Directly presaging the American Civil War these forces collided, entering into skirmishes and guerrilla conflicts that earned the territory the nickname Bleeding Kansas. These included John Brown’s Pottawatomie massacre of 1856. Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to join the United States.

LIST OF GOVERNORS AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE’S MEMBERS.

The governor has a 4-year term, commencing on the second Monday of January after election. The governor originally had a 2-year term; this was changed to four years by a constitutional amendment in 1974. The lieutenant governor is elected at the same time as the governor. When the office of governor becomes vacant for any reason, the lieutenant governor becomes governor for the remainder of the term. Since becoming a state, Kansas has had 48 governors. The state’s longest-serving governors were Robert Docking, John W. Carlin, and Bill Graves, each of whom served 8 years and 4 days (Docking served four two-year terms; Carlin and Graves each served 2 4-year terms). The shortest-serving governor was John McCuish, who served only 11 days after the resignation of Fred Hall. The current governor is Democrat Laura Kelly, who took office on January 14, 2019.

Governors of the Territory of Kansas

The area that became Kansas was part of Louisiana Territory, later renamed Missouri Territory, until 1821, and unorganized until it became its own territory on May 30, 1854; see List of governors of Missouri for the period from 1805 to 1821. A small part of Kansas was once claimed as part of the Republic of Texas (see List of Presidents of the Republic of Texas, and before that, was part of Mexico (see Spanish governors of New Mexico).

Governors of the State of Kansas

The eastern bulk of Kansas Territory was admitted to the Union as Kansas on January 29, 1861; the remainder become unorganized territory which would shortly be assigned to Colorado Territory. The Kansas Constitution provided that a governor and lieutenant governor be elected every 2 years. An amendment in 1972 increased terms to four years and provided that the governor and lieutenant governor are elected on the same ticket. In the original constitution, should the office of governor be vacant, the powers would devolve upon the lieutenant governor, who nonetheless would remain in that office; an amendment in 1972 changed that so that, in such an event, the lieutenant governor becomes governor, and relies on the legislature to provide for succession after that.

MEMBERS OF REPRESENTATIVES TO THE U.S. HOUSE FROM KANSAS

The following is an alphabetical list of members of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Kansas. For chronological tables of members of both houses of the United States Congress from the state (through the present day), see United States congressional delegations from Kansas. The list of names should be complete (as of January 3, 2021), but other data may be incomplete. It includes members who have represented both the state and the territory, both past and present.

List of members and delegates