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103-685: Ma Murray, a Kansas native and wife of British Columbia politician and publisher George Matheson Murray , had already made a reputation as the firebrand editor of the Bridge River-Lillooet News in Lillooet, British Columbia , among other publications, when the Murrays came to see the Alaska Highway for themselves in 1940. They decided that Fort St. John, then a boomtown populated mostly by United States Army soldiers,

206-562: A Dhegiha Siouan -speaking people who settled in Arkansas around the 13th century. The stem - kansa is named after the Kaw people , also known as the Kansa , a federally recognized Native American tribe. 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. Before European colonization , Kansas

309-506: A "Person held to Service or Labor." In addition, Article 1, section 9, clause 1 of the Constitution prohibited Congress from abolishing the importation of slaves , but in a compromise, the prohibition could be lifted by Congress in 20 years, and slaves were referred to as "Persons." The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves passed easily in 1807 and took effect on January 1, 1808. However, the ban on importation spurred an expansion in

412-727: A bending course for nearly 500 mi (800 km) across the western and southern parts of the state. With its tributaries, (the Little Arkansas , Ninnescah , Walnut, Cow Creek , Cimarron , Verdigris, and the Neosho ), it forms the southern drainage system of the state. Kansas's other rivers are the Saline and Solomon Rivers, tributaries of the Smoky Hill River; the Big Blue , Delaware , and Wakarusa , which flow into

515-630: A congressional veto over federal policy with regard to slavery and other issues important to the South. As a result of this preoccupation, slave states and free states were often admitted into the Union in opposite pairs to maintain the existing Senate balance between slave and free states. Controversy over whether Missouri should be admitted as a slave state resulted in the Missouri Compromise of 1821, which specified that territory acquired in

618-430: A constitutional convention on March 10, 1864. Arkansas, part of which came under Union control by 1864, adopted an anti-slavery constitution on March 16, 1864. Louisiana – much of which had been under Union control since 1862 – abolished slavery through a new state constitution approved by voters September 5, 1864. The border states of Maryland (November 1, 1864) and Missouri (January 11, 1865) abolished slavery before

721-507: A daily and ownership had passed to Hollinger Inc. , the media empire of Conrad Black . Along with several other small British Columbia dailies, the Alaska Highway News was one of the last Hollinger properties to be sold, to Vancouver -based Glacier Ventures International, later called Glacier Media , in 2006. In 2014, the paper merged with another Glacier Media Group outlet, The Dawson Creek Daily News . The paper serves both

824-543: A life expectancy near the U.S. national average. In 2013, males in Kansas lived an average of 76.6 years compared to a male national average of 76.7 years and females lived an average of 81.0 years compared to a female national average of 81.5 years. Increases in life expectancy between 1980 and 2013 were below the national average for males and near the national average for females. Male life expectancy in Kansas between 1980 and 2014 increased by an average of 5.2 years, compared to

927-493: A male national average of a 6.7-year increase. Life expectancy for females in Kansas between 1980 and 2014 increased by 4.3 years, compared to a female national average of a 4.0 year increase. Using 2017–2019 data, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation calculated that life expectancy for Kansas counties ranged from 75.8 years for Wyandotte County to 81.7 years for Johnson County . Life expectancy for

1030-432: A population of less than 25,000, and upon reaching a population of more than 15,000, they may be certified as a city of the first class. First and second class cities are independent of any township and are not included within the township's territory. Note: Births in table do not add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number. The residents of Kansas have

1133-575: A rapid increase in population in the decades prior to the American Revolution . Organized political and social movements to abolish slavery began in the mid-18th century. The sentiments of the American Revolution and the promise of equality evoked by the Declaration of Independence stood in contrast to the status of most black people, either free or enslaved, in the colonies. Despite this, thousands of black Americans fought for

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1236-547: A slave did not become free by entering a free state and must be returned to their owner. Enforcement of these laws became one of the controversies which arose between slave and free states. Slavery, in what would become the United States, was established as part of European colonization . By the 18th century, slavery was legal throughout the Thirteen Colonies , after which rebel colonies started to abolish

1339-614: A state in 1791. Slavery was a divisive issue in the United States. It was a major issue during the writing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, the subject of political crises in the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 and was the primary cause of the American Civil War in 1861. Just before the Civil War, there were 19 free states and 15 slave states. The most recent free state, Kansas , had entered

1442-713: A state until 1896, as an organized territory , Utah legalized slavery under the 1852 territorial Act in Relation to Service and similar Act for the Relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners . Brigham Young and his group of Mormon pioneers had arrived in Utah in 1847, during the Mexican–American War , when Utah Territory was Mexican territory. They ignored the Mexican ban on slavery. They viewed slavery as consistent with

1545-572: A statehood bill to Congress to create a new state from 48 counties in western Virginia. The new state would eventually incorporate 50 counties. The issue of slavery in the new state delayed approval of the bill. In the Senate Charles Sumner objected to the admission of a new slave state, while Benjamin Wade defended statehood as long as a gradual emancipation clause would be included in the new state constitution. Two senators represented

1648-449: A young city incorporated in 1960, has the largest population and the largest land area in the county. It is home to Johnson County Community College . Olathe is the county seat and home to Johnson County Executive Airport . The cities of Olathe, Shawnee , De Soto and Gardner have some of the state's fastest growing populations. The cities of Overland Park, Lenexa , Olathe, De Soto, and Gardner are also notable because they lie along

1751-411: Is Wichita ; however, the largest urban area is the bi-state Kansas City, MO–KS metropolitan area . For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Indigenous tribes . The first settlement of non-indigenous people 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

1854-712: Is also the home of Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center , Prairie Dunes Country Club and the Kansas State Fair . North of Wichita along Interstate 135 is the city of Newton , the former western terminal of the Santa Fe Railroad and trailhead for the famed Chisholm Trail . To the southeast of Wichita are the cities of Winfield and Arkansas City with historic architecture and the Cherokee Strip Museum (in Ark City). The city of Udall

1957-610: Is an accepted version of this page Kansas ( / ˈ k æ n z ə s / KAN -zəss ) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States . It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named after the Kansas River , in turn named after the Kansa people. Its capital is Topeka , and its most populous city

2060-615: Is covered by glacial drift and loess . The western two-thirds of the state, lying in the great central plain of the United States, has a generally flat or undulating surface, while the eastern third has many hills and forests. The land gradually rises from east to west; its altitude ranges from 684 ft (208 m) along the Verdigris River at Coffeyville in Montgomery County , to 4,039 ft (1,231 m) at Mount Sunflower , 0.5 miles (0.80 kilometers) from

2163-690: Is defined by the Missouri River . The Kansas River (locally known as the Kaw), formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers at appropriately-named Junction City , joins the Missouri River at Kansas City , after a course of 170 mi (270 km) across the northeastern part of the state. The Arkansas River ( pronunciation varies ), rising in Colorado , flows with

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2266-495: Is home to Fort Hays State University and the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, and is the largest city in the northwest with a population of around 20,001. Slave states and free states In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were prohibited. Between 1812 and 1850, it

2369-510: Is the 15th-largest state by area , the 36th most-populous of the 50 states, with a population of 2,940,865 according to the 2020 census, and the 10th least densely populated . Residents of Kansas are called Kansans . Mount Sunflower is Kansas's highest point at 4,039 feet (1,231 meters). The name Kansas derives from the Algonquian term, Akansa , for the Quapaw people. These were

2472-463: Is the largest city in central and north-central Kansas. South of Salina is the small city of Lindsborg with its numerous Dala horses . Much of the architecture and decor of this town has a distinctly Swedish style. To the east along Interstate 70 , the historic city of Abilene was formerly a trailhead for the Chisholm Trail and was the boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower , and

2575-559: Is the site of his Presidential Library and the tombs of the former president, First Lady and son who died in infancy. To the west is Lucas , the Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas. Westward along the Interstate, the city of Russell , traditionally the beginning of sparsely-populated northwest Kansas, was the base of former U.S. Senator Bob Dole and the boyhood home of U.S. Senator Arlen Specter . The city of Hays

2678-481: 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. By that time, the violence in Kansas had largely subsided, but during

2781-490: The Compromise of 1850 . Three more free states were admitted in the final years before the Civil War, disrupting the balance that the slave states had tried to maintain. The American Civil War (1861–1865) disrupted and eventually ended slavery. Eleven slave states joined the Confederacy , while the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri – all slave states – remained in

2884-525: The Homestead Acts in 1862 accelerated settlement and agricultural development in the state. After the Civil War, many veterans constructed homesteads in Kansas. Many African Americans also looked to Kansas as the land of " John Brown " and, led by freedmen like Benjamin "Pap" Singleton , began establishing black colonies in the state. Leaving southern states in the late 1870s because of increasing discrimination, they became known as Exodusters . At

2987-502: The Köppen climate classification , Kansas has three climates: humid continental, semi-arid steppe, and humid subtropical. The eastern two-thirds of the state (especially the northeastern portion) has a humid continental climate , with cool to cold winters and hot, often humid summers. Most of the precipitation falls during both the summer and the spring. The USDA hardiness zones for Kansas range from Zone 5b (−15 °F to −10 °F) in

3090-480: The Louisiana Purchase north of latitude 36° 30', which described most of Missouri's southern border, would, except for Missouri, become free states, and territory south of that line would become slave states. As part of the compromise, Maine , on August 19, 1821, was admitted as a free state. The admission of Texas (1845) and the acquisition of the vast new Mexican Cession territories (1848), after

3193-515: The Mexican–American War , created further north–south conflict. Although the settled portion of Texas was an area rich in cotton plantations and dependent on slave labor, the territory acquired in the Mountain West did not seem hospitable to cotton or slavery. As part of the Compromise of 1850 , California was admitted as a free state without a slave state being admitted; California's admission also meant there would be no slave state on

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3296-637: The Mississippi River . The city of Atchison was an early commercial center in the state and is well known as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart . To the west, nearly a quarter million people reside in the Topeka metropolitan area. Topeka is the state capital and home to Washburn University and Washburn Institute of Technology . Built at a Kansas River crossing along the old Oregon Trail , this historic city has several nationally registered historic places. Further westward along Interstate 70 and

3399-732: The Patriot cause for a combination of reasons. Thousands also joined the British, encouraged by offers of freedom such as the Philipsburg Proclamation . In the 1770s, enslaved black people throughout New England began sending petitions to northern legislatures demanding freedom. 5 Northern states adopted policies to at least gradually abolish slavery : Pennsylvania in 1780, New Hampshire and Massachusetts in 1783, and Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784. The Republic of Vermont had limited slavery in 1777, while it

3502-600: The Providence Medical Center Amphitheater , the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame , and the annual Kansas City Renaissance Festival . Further up the Missouri River , the city of Lansing is the home of the state's first maximum-security prison. Historic Leavenworth , founded in 1854, was the first incorporated city in Kansas. North of the city, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active Army post west of

3605-640: The Senate , where each state was represented by two senators. With an equal number of slave states and free states, the Senate was equally divided on issues important to the South . As the population of the free states began to outstrip the population of the slave states, leading to control of the House of Representatives by free states, the Senate became the preoccupation of slave-state politicians interested in maintaining

3708-659: The U.S. Constitution was ratified, had prohibited slavery in the federal Northwest Territory . The southern boundary of the territory was the Ohio River , which was regarded as a westward extension of the Mason-Dixon line . The territory was generally settled by New Englanders and American Revolutionary War veterans granted land there. The 6 states created from the territory were all free states: Ohio (1803), Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Michigan (1837), Wisconsin (1848), and Minnesota (1858). By 1815,

3811-517: The domestic slave trade , which remained legal until slavery was banned entirely in 1865 by the 13th Amendment . In the late 1850s, an unsuccessful campaign was launched by several southern states to resume the international slave trade, to restock their slave populations, but this met with strong opposition. However, there was a large natural increase in the slave population throughout the late 18th and 19th centuries, while some illegal smuggling of African slaves continued via Spanish Cuba . One of

3914-539: The 1840 census (see Slavery in the United States#Abolitionism in the North ). In the South, Kentucky was created as a slave state from Virginia (1792), and Tennessee was created as a slave state from North Carolina (1796). By 1804, before the creation of new states from the federal western territories, the number of slave and free states was 8 each. By the time of Missouri Compromise of 1820,

4017-408: The 1850s, culminating in numerous skirmishes and devastation on both sides of the question. Nevertheless, the North prevented Kansas Territory from becoming a slave state, and when Southern members of Congress departed en masse in early 1861, Kansas was immediately admitted to the Union as a free state. When the admission of Minnesota proceeded unimpeded in 1858, the balance in the Senate ended; this

4120-491: The Civil War, on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led several hundred of his supporters on a raid into Lawrence , destroying much of the city and killing nearly 200 people. He was roundly condemned by both the conventional Confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature . His application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal record. Passage of

4223-547: The Colorado border, in Wallace County . It is a common misconception that Kansas is the flattest state in the nation—in 2003, a tongue-in-cheek study famously declared the state "flatter than a pancake". In fact, Kansas has a maximum topographic relief of 3,360 ft (1,020 m), making it the 23rd flattest U.S. state measured by maximum relief. Around 74 mi (119 km) of the state's northeastern boundary

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4326-576: The East, earning Dodge the nickname "Queen of the Cowtowns". In response to demands of Methodists and other evangelical Protestants , in 1881 Kansas became the first U.S. state to adopt a constitutional amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages , which was repealed in 1948. Anti-saloon activist Carrie Nation vandalized her first saloon in Kiowa in 1900. In 1922, suffragist Ella Uphay Mowry became

4429-559: The Fort St. John and Dawson Creek areas, as well as surrounding areas, including Fort Nelson. In March 2016 the frequency of the paper was switched to weekly. In October 2023, the paper published its final edition. The paper's closure has left a news desert in the Peace River region, with local governments left with few alternative means of distributing its public notices as required under British Columbia law. Kansas This

4532-540: The Kansas River is Junction City with its historic limestone and brick buildings and nearby Fort Riley , well known as the home to the U.S. Army 's 1st Infantry Division (nicknamed "the Big Red One"). A short distance away, the city of Manhattan is home to Kansas State University , the second-largest public university in the state and the nation's oldest land-grant university, dating back to 1863. South of

4635-988: The Kansas River; and the Marais des Cygnes , a tributary of the Missouri River. Spring River is located between Riverton and Baxter Springs . Areas under the protection of the National Park Service include: In Kansas, there are currently 238 species of rare animals and 400 rare plants. Among those include: Smooth rockress , Virginia rail , Western Grotto Salamander , Royal Fern , Turkey-tangle , Bobolink , Cave salamander , Snowy Plover , Strecker's Chorus Frog , Peregrine falcon , and Black-footed ferret . Common animal species and grasses include: Crows , Deer , Lesser prairie chicken , Mice , Moles , Virginia Opossum , Prairie dogs , Raccoon , Eastern Gama Grass , Prairie Dropseed , Indian Grass , Little Bluestem , Switch grass , Northern Sea Oats , Tussock Sedge , Sideoats grama , and Big Bluestem . In

4738-672: The Mormon view on Black people. On June 19, 1862, fulfilling a part of his 1860 campaign platform, President Lincoln signed the law ending slavery in Utah Territory and all other territories. While California's state constitution outlawed slavery, the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians allowed the indenture of Native Californians. This law provided for apprenticing or indenturing Indian children to Whites, and also punished vagrant Indians by hiring them out to

4841-419: The North to Zone 7a (0 °F to 5 °F) in the South. The western third of the state—from roughly the U.S. Route 83 corridor westward—has a semi-arid steppe climate. Summers are hot, often very hot, and generally less humid. Winters are highly changeable between warm and very cold. The western region receives an average of about 16 inches (410 millimeters) of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in

4944-858: The Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is in Smith County near Lebanon . Until 1989, the Meades Ranch Triangulation Station in Osborne County was the geodetic center of North America: the central reference point for all maps of North America. The geographic center of Kansas is in Barton County . Kansas is underlain by a sequence of horizontal to gently westward dipping sedimentary rocks . A sequence of Mississippian , Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks outcrop in

5047-704: The Pacific coast. To avoid creating a free state majority in the Senate, California agreed to send one pro-slavery and one anti-slavery senator to Congress. The difficulty of identifying territory that could be organized into additional slave states stalled the process of opening the western territories to settlement. Slave-state politicians made efforts to annex Cuba (see: Lopez Expedition and Ostend Manifesto , 1852) and Nicaragua (see: Filibuster War , 1856–57), with intentions to create new slave states. Parts of Northern Mexico were also coveted, with Senator Albert Brown declaring "I want Tamaulipas , Potosi , and one or two other Mexican States ; and I want them all for

5150-524: The Saturday night tub, go back to the old washrag which could always remove a lot of B.O. if applied often enough. ... She frequently ended her editorials "...   and that's fer damshur!". Ma Murray also coined the Alaska Highway News ' motto: "We're the only newspaper in the world that gives a tinker's damn about the North Peace." By the turn of the 21st century, the paper had converted to

5253-557: The U.S. Congress. By the time the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, Tennessee was already under Union control. Accordingly, the Proclamation applied only in the 10 remaining Confederate states. During the war, abolition of slavery was required by President Abraham Lincoln for readmission of Confederate states. The U.S. Congress , after the departure of the powerful Southern contingent in 1861,

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5356-634: The Union after its own years-long bloody fight over slavery. During the war, slavery was abolished in some of the slave states, and the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , ratified in December 1865, abolished slavery throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime. Slavery was established as a legal institution in each of the Thirteen Colonies , starting from 1619 on wards with

5459-413: The Union, although Kentucky and Missouri also had competing Confederate state governments. In 1863 western Virginia, much of which had remained loyal to the Union, was admitted as the new state of West Virginia with a commitment to gradual emancipation. The following year Nevada , a free state in the West, was also admitted. During the Civil War, a Unionist government in Wheeling, Virginia , presented

5562-399: The Unionist Virginia government, John S. Carlile and Waitman T. Willey . Senator Carlile objected that Congress had no right to impose emancipation on West Virginia , while Willey proposed a compromise amendment to the state constitution for gradual abolition. Sumner attempted to add his own amendment to the bill, which was defeated, and the statehood bill passed both houses of Congress with

5665-454: The West Virginia legislature completely abolished slavery, and also ratified the 13th Amendment on February 3, 1865. In the District of Columbia , formed with land from two slave states, Maryland and Virginia, the trade was abolished by the Compromise of 1850 . So as to avoid losing the profitable slave-trading businesses in Alexandria (one was Franklin and Armfield ), Alexandria County, D.C., requested that it be returned to Virginia, where

5768-632: The addition of what became known as the Willey Amendment. President Lincoln signed the bill on December 31, 1862. Voters in western Virginia approved the Willey Amendment on March 26, 1863. President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which exempted from emancipation the border states (four slave states loyal to the Union ) as well as some territories occupied by Union forces within Confederate states. Two additional counties were added to West Virginia in late 1863, Berkeley and Jefferson . The slaves in Berkeley were also under exemption but not those in Jefferson County. As of

5871-644: The all-time highest temperature recorded in Kansas is (121 °F or 49.4 °C) on July 24, 1936, near Alton in Osborne County , and the all-time low is −40 °F (−40 °C) on February 13, 1905, near Lebanon in Smith County . Alton and Lebanon are approximately 50 miles (80 km) apart. Kansas's record high of 121 °F (49.4 °C) ties with North Dakota for the fifth-highest record high in an American state, behind California (134 °F or 56.7 °C), Arizona (128 °F or 53.3 °C), Nevada (125 °F or 51.7 °C), and New Mexico (122 °F or 50 °C). Known as rural flight ,

5974-446: The arrival of "twenty and odd" enslaved Africans in Virginia . Although indigenous peoples were also sold into slavery, the vast majority of the enslaved population consisted of Africans brought to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade . Due to a lower prevalence of tropical diseases and better treatment , the enslaved population in the colonies had a higher life expectancy than in the West Indies and South America, leading to

6077-418: The campus, Aggieville dates back to 1889 and is the state's oldest shopping district of its kind. In south-central Kansas, the Wichita metropolitan area is home to more than 600,000 people. Wichita is the largest city in the state in terms of both land area and population. 'The Air Capital' is a major manufacturing center for the aircraft industry and the home of Wichita State University . Before Wichita

6180-427: The census of 1860, the 49 exempted counties held some 6000 slaves over 21 years of age who would not have been emancipated, about 40% of the total slave population. The terms of the Willey Amendment only freed children, at birth or as they came of age, and prohibited the importation of slaves. West Virginia became the 35th state on June 20, 1863, and the last slave state admitted to the Union. Eighteen months later,

6283-453: The day. Precipitation ranges from about 47 inches (1,200 mm) annually in the state's southeast corner to about 16 inches (410 mm) in the southwest. Snowfall ranges from around 5 inches (130 mm) in the fringes of the south, to 35 inches (890 mm) in the far northwest. Frost-free days range from more than 200 days in the south, to 130 days in the northwest. Thus, Kansas is the country's ninth or tenth sunniest state, depending on

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6386-494: The dividing line between the slave and free states was called the Mason-Dixon line (between Maryland and Pennsylvania), with its westward extension being the Ohio River . The 1787 Constitutional Convention debated slavery, and for a time slavery was a major impediment to passage of the new constitution . As a compromise, slavery was acknowledged but never mentioned explicitly in the Constitution. The Fugitive Slave Clause , Article 4, section 2, clause 3, for example, refers to

6489-414: The eastern and southern part of the state. The state's western half has exposures of Cretaceous through Tertiary sediments, the latter derived from the erosion of the uplifted Rocky Mountains to the west. These are underlain by older Paleozoic and Mesozoic sediments which correlate well with the outcrops to the east. The state's northeastern corner was subjected to glaciation in the Pleistocene and

6592-410: The fastest-growing in the country. Kansas has 627 incorporated cities . By state statute, cities are divided into three classes as determined by the population obtained "by any census of enumeration". A city of the third class has a population of less than 5,000, but cities reaching a population of more than 2,000 may be certified as a city of the second class. The second class is limited to cities with

6695-566: The first female gubernatorial candidate in the state when she ran as "Mrs. W.D. Mowry". She later stated that, "Someone had to be the pioneer. I firmly believe that some day a woman will sit in the governor's chair in Kansas." Kansas suffered severe and environmental damage in the 1930s due to the combined effects of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl , and large numbers of people left southwestern Kansas in particular for better opportunities elsewhere. The outbreak of World War II spurred rapid growth in aircraft manufacturing near Wichita in

6798-490: The former route of the Santa Fe Trail . Among cities with at least one thousand residents, Mission Hills has the highest median income in the state. Several institutions of higher education are located in Northeast Kansas including Baker University (the oldest university in the state, founded in 1858 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church ) in Baldwin City, Benedictine College (sponsored by St. Benedict's Abbey and Mount St. Scholastica Monastery and formed from

6901-510: The heat index in those three cities is usually lower than the actual air temperature. Although temperatures of 100 °F (38 °C) or higher are not as common in areas east of U.S. 81, higher humidity and the urban heat island effect lead most summer days to heat indices between 107 and 114 °F (42 and 46 °C) in Topeka , Lawrence , and the Kansas City metropolitan area . Also, combined with humidity between 85 and 95 percent, dangerous heat indices can be experienced at every hour of

7004-406: The highest bidder at a public auction if the Indian could not provide sufficient bond or bail. The new settlers took 10,000 to 27,000 California Native Americans as forced laborers, including 4,000 to 7,000 children. In April 1863, after the declaration of the Emancipation Proclamation , the California legislature abolished all forms of legal indenture and apprenticeship for Native Americans. At

7107-454: The importation of slaves. In 1863, voters approved the Willey Amendment, which provided for gradual abolition of slavery, with the last enslaved people scheduled to be freed in 1884. On February 3, 1865, the state legislature approved immediate abolition. The Restored Government of Virginia – the Unionist government that governed the limited territory then under Union control that had not left to form West Virginia – voted to end slavery at

7210-464: The last few decades have been marked by a migratory pattern out of the countryside into cities. Out of all the cities in these Midwestern states, 89% have fewer than 3,000 people, and hundreds of those have fewer than 1,000. In Kansas alone, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns and dwindling communities, according to one Kansas historian, Daniel C. Fitzgerald. At the same time, some of the communities in Johnson County (metropolitan Kansas City) are among

7313-428: The merger of St. Benedict's College (1858) and Mount St. Scholastica College (1923)) in Atchison, MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Ottawa University in Ottawa and Overland Park, Kansas City Kansas Community College and KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Less than an hour's drive to the west, Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas , the largest public university in

7416-411: The momentum for antislavery reform appeared to run out of steam, with half the states having already abolished slavery ( Northeast ), prohibited it from the start ( Midwest ), or committed to eliminating it, and half committed to continuing the institution indefinitely ( South ). The potential for political conflict over slavery at the federal level made politicians concerned about the balance of power in

7519-503: The other compromises of the Constitution was the creation of the Three-Fifths Clause by which slave states acquired increased representation in the House of Representatives and Electoral College equivalent to 60% of their disenfranchised slave populations. Slave states had wanted 100% of their slaves to be counted, whereas Northern states argued that none should be. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, passed just before

7622-565: The practice. Pennsylvania abolished slavery in 1780, and about half of the states had abolished slavery by the end of the Revolutionary War or in the first decades of the new country, although this did not always mean that existing slaves became free. Vermont — having declared its independence from Britain in 1777 and thus not being one of the Thirteen Colonies — banned slavery in the same year, before being admitted as

7725-600: The same reason – for the plantation and spreading of slavery". In 1854, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was superseded by the Kansas–Nebraska Act , which allowed white male settlers in the new territories to determine, by vote ( popular sovereignty ), whether they would allow slavery within each territory. The result was that pro- and anti-slavery elements flooded into Kansas with the goal of voting slavery up or down, leading to bloody fighting . An effort

7828-736: The same time, the Chisholm Trail was opened and the Wild West era commenced in Kansas. Storied lawman Wild Bill Hickok was a deputy marshal at Fort Riley and a marshal at Hays and Abilene . Dodge City was home to both Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp , who worked as lawmen in the town. The Dalton Gang robbed trains and banks throughout Kansas and the Southwest and maintained a hideout in Meade . In one year alone , eight million head of cattle from Texas boarded trains in Dodge City bound for

7931-577: The sites of present-day Denver , Colorado Springs , and Pueblo . 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

8034-604: The slave trade was legal; this took place in 1847. Slavery in the District of Columbia remained legal until 1862, when, over strong opposition from slaveholding residents, Congress passed the DC Compensated Emancipation Act . Many former slaveholders in the District refused to obey the new law which required Congress to pass supplemental legislation in 1862 that allowed enslaved people to file petitions for their own freedom. Although it did not become

8137-455: The so-called Battle of Kansas , and the aerospace sector remains a significant portion of the Kansan economy to this day. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. The state is divided into 105 counties with 628 cities , with its largest county by area being Butler County . Kansas is located equidistant from

8240-750: The source. Western Kansas is as sunny as parts of California and Arizona . Kansas is prone to severe weather, especially in the spring and the early-summer. Despite the frequent sunshine throughout much of the state, due to its location at a climatic boundary prone to intrusions of multiple air masses, the state is vulnerable to strong and severe thunderstorms. Some of these storms become supercell thunderstorms; these can produce some tornadoes , occasionally those of EF3 strength or higher. Kansas averages more than 50 tornadoes annually. Severe thunderstorms sometimes drop some very large hail over Kansas as well. Furthermore, these storms can even bring in flash flooding and damaging straight line winds. According to NOAA,

8343-614: The start of the Civil War, there were 34 states in the United States, 15 of which were slave states. Eleven of these slave states, after conventions devoted to the topic, issued declarations of secession from the United States, created the Confederate States of America , and were represented in the Confederate Congress . The slave states that stayed in the Union – Maryland, Missouri, Delaware, and Kentucky (called border states ) – retained their representatives in

8446-530: The state as a whole was 78.5 years. Life expectancy for the United States as a whole in 2019 was 78.8 years. The northeastern portion of the state, extending from the eastern border to Junction City and from the Nebraska border to south of Johnson County is home to more than 1.5 million people in the Kansas City (Kansas portion), Manhattan, Lawrence, and Topeka metropolitan areas . Overland Park ,

8549-522: The state, and Haskell Indian Nations University . To the north, Kansas City , with the second largest land area in the state, contains a number of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Its attractions include the Kansas Speedway , Sporting Kansas City , Kansas City Monarchs , and The Legends at Village West retail and entertainment center. Nearby, Kansas's first settlement Bonner Springs is home to several national and regional attractions including

8652-467: The territory of Kansas was integrated into Spanish Louisiana . During that period, Governor Luis de Unzaga 'le Conciliateur' promoted expeditions and good relations with the Amerindians . Explorer Antoine de Marigny and others 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

8755-474: 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

8858-614: The unofficial nickname "The Free State". Passage of the Homestead Acts in 1862 brought a further influx of settlers, and the booming cattle trade of the 1870s attracted some of the Wild West's most iconic figures to western Kansas. As of 2015, Kansas was among the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum , and soybeans . In addition to its traditional strength in agriculture, Kansas possesses an extensive aerospace industry. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles (213,100 square kilometers)

8961-465: The war's end. The Union-occupied state of Tennessee abolished slavery by popular vote on a constitutional amendment that took effect February 22, 1865. However, slavery legally persisted in Delaware, Kentucky, and (to a very limited extent, due to a trade ban but continued gradual abolition) New Jersey, until the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery throughout

9064-554: The winter can warm western Kansas all the way into the 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) range. The south-central and southeastern portions of the state, including the Wichita area, have a humid subtropical climate with hot and humid summers, milder winters, and more precipitation than elsewhere in Kansas. Some features of all three climates can be found in most of the state, with droughts and changeable weather between dry and humid not uncommon, and both warm and cold spells in

9167-605: The winter. Temperatures in areas between U.S. Routes 83 and 81 , as well as the southwestern portion of the state along and south of U.S. 50 , reach 90 °F (32 °C) or above on most days of June, July, and August. High humidity added to the high temperatures sends the heat index into life-threatening territory, especially in Wichita, Hutchinson , Salina , Russell , Hays , and Great Bend . Temperatures are often higher in Dodge City , Garden City , and Liberal , but

9270-632: 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

9373-571: Was 'The Air Capital' it was a Cowtown. With a number of nationally registered historic places, museums, and other entertainment destinations, it has a desire to become a cultural mecca in the Midwest. Wichita's population growth has grown by double digits and the surrounding suburbs are among the fastest growing cities in the state. The population of Goddard has grown by more than 11% per year since 2000. Other fast-growing cities include Andover , Maize , Park City , Derby , and Haysville . Wichita

9476-563: Was a good place to start a newspaper, and the weekly Alaska Highway News was born in 1943. Murray became the "best-known, best-loved and also most cordially disliked person in Fort St. John" for her folksy and outspoken editorials , including attacks on the local power and telephone companies, and her solution to a town water shortage: There has been a terrible waste of water in this small town. ... We sure as hell need to use less if we are going to have this modern convenience. To head off this catastrophe, only flush for No. 2, curtail bathing to

9579-517: Was compounded by the subsequent admission of Oregon as a free state in 1859. The following table shows the balance between slave and free states that began in 1812. The Statehood columns provide the year the state either ratified the U.S. Constitution or was admitted to the Union . The date ranges in the Abolition column for Free States indicate when gradual abolition laws were adopted and when slavery finally ended, except for states where slavery

9682-565: Was considered by the slave states to be politically imperative that the number of free states not exceed the number of slave states, so new states were admitted in slave–free pairs. There were, nonetheless, some slaves in most free states up to the 1840 census, and the Fugitive Slave Clause of the U.S. Constitution , as implemented by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 , provided that

9785-792: Was generally abolitionist: In a plan endorsed by Abraham Lincoln, slavery in the District of Columbia , which the Southern contingent had protected, was abolished in 1862. In Southern states, freedom for slaves typically followed the Union army's gaining control of an area. The Emancipation Proclamation declared all enslaved people in areas then under Confederate control free, but, in practice, freedom required either slaves reaching Union lines or Union forces reaching their area. As Union forces advanced from January 1, 1863, to June 19, 1865 , slaves were freed. West Virginia did not abolish slavery in its first proposed constitution of 1861, though it did ban

9888-573: Was initiated to organize Kansas for admission as a slave state, paired with Minnesota , but the admission of Kansas as a slave state was blocked because its proposed pro-slavery constitution (the Lecompton Constitution ) had not been approved in an honest election. Anti-slavery proponents during the " Bleeding Kansas " period of the later 1850s were called Free-Staters and Free-Soilers , and fought against pro-slavery Border Ruffians from Missouri. The animosity escalated throughout

9991-612: Was occupied by the Caddoan Wichita and later the Siouan Kaw people . 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 European to set foot in present-day Kansas was the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado , who explored the area in 1541. Between 1763 and 1803,

10094-469: Was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854 with the Kansas–Nebraska Act , conflict between abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri broke out over the question of whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state , in a period known as Bleeding Kansas . On January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state, hence

10197-472: Was one of the first cities to add the city commissioner and city manager in their form of government. Wichita is also home of the nationally recognized Sedgwick County Zoo. Up river (the Arkansas River ) from Wichita is the city of Hutchinson . The city was built on one of the world's largest salt deposits (of what would form Strataca ), and it has the world's largest and longest wheat elevator. It

10300-404: Was outlawed in a specific year. From 1812 through 1850, maintaining the balance of free and slave state votes in the Senate was considered of paramount importance if the Union were to be preserved, and states were typically admitted in pairs: California was admitted as a free state in 1850 without an accompanying slave state, though certain concessions were made to the slave states as part of

10403-573: Was still independent before it joined the United States as the 14th state in 1791. These state jurisdictions thus enacted the first abolition laws in the Atlantic World . By 1804 (including New York (1799) and New Jersey (1804)), all of the Northern states had abolished slavery or set measures in place to gradually abolish it, although there were still hundreds of ex-slaves working without pay as indentured servants in Northern states as late as

10506-582: Was the site of the deadliest tornado in Kansas on May 25, 1955; it killed 80 people in and near the city. Southeast Kansas has a unique history with a number of nationally registered historic places in this coal-mining region. Located in Crawford County (dubbed the Fried Chicken Capital of Kansas), Pittsburg is the largest city in the region and the home of Pittsburg State University . The neighboring city of Frontenac in 1888

10609-479: Was the site of the worst mine disaster in the state in which an underground explosion killed 47 miners. " Big Brutus " is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) outside the city of West Mineral . Along with the restored fort, historic Fort Scott has a national cemetery designated by President Lincoln in 1862. The region also shares a Media market with Joplin, Missouri , a city in Southwest Missouri. Salina

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