hundred and fifty, commonly called the Compromise Measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void; it being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it there from, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to revive or put in force any law or regulation which may have existed prior to the act of sixth of March, eighteen hundred and twenty, either protecting, establishing, prohibiting, or abolishing slavery. SEC. 37. And be it further enacted, That all treaties, laws, and other engagements made by the government of the United States with the Indian tribes inhabiting the territories embraced within this act, shall be faithfully and rigidly observed, notwithstanding any thing contained in this act; and that the existing agencies and superintendencies of said Indians be continued with the same powers and duties which are now prescribed by law, except that the President of the United States may, at his discretion, change the location of the office of superintendent. APPROVED, May 30, 1854. 153. THE EMIGRANT AID SOCIETY Settlers from North and South pushed into Kansas immediately on the organization of the Territory. Desire for economic betterment, the temptation of new lands in which to speculate were motives common to this and other phases of the westward movement. A second motive was the desire of northern and southern groups to win the territory for freedom or slavery. The New England Emigrant Aid Society was popularly supposed to be an organization for pushing free state emigrants into the territory. Notice also its pecuniary motives as revealed in the following extract of testimony before a Congressional committee in 1856. Reports of Committees, 34 Congress, 1 & 2 sessions, Vol. 2, pp. 873-885. AMOS A. LAWRENCE called and sworn. THE first charter for an Emigrant Aid Company was granted by the legislature of Massachusetts in April, 1854... The first legal organization of the company was under articles of association dated July 24, 1854. Under these the subscriptions of stock were made, and action had, until the spring of 1855, when a new charter was obtained, as follows: "NEW ENGLAND EMIGRANT AID COMPANY. "CHARTER. "AN ACT to incorporate the New England Emigrant Aid Com pany. "Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives in general court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Eli Thayer, Amos A. Lawrence, John M. S. Williams, and Thomas H. Webb, their associates, successors, and assigns, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, for the purposes of directing emigration westward, and aiding in providing accommodations for the emigrants after arriving at their places of destination; and for these purposes they have all the powers and privileges, and are subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set forth in the forty-fourth chapter of the Revised Statutes. "SEC. 2. The capital stock of said corporation shall not exceed one million of dollars. Said capital stock may be invested in real and personal estate, provided the said corporation shall not hold real estate in this commonwealth to an amount exceeding twenty thousand dollars. "SEC. 3. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. "Approved by the governor, February 21, 1855." The money paid in for subscriptions of stock, about $95,000, and the donations, about $4,000, was received by me, as treasurer, and has been disbursed by me under the direction of the executive committee. No part of it has been expended for sending out emigrants, nor for any purpose except those made known to the public, viz: the establishment of saw mills, taverns, a printing press, for exploring a Territory, &c. No money has been spent for fire arms... The pecuniary advantage derived by the emigrants has been a reduction of fare of about fifteen per cent. The other advantages will be inferred from the character of the expenditures of the company. The number who have gone out is about 1,300, and those who have joined the parties about as many more. Until recently there has been no association in New England for sending out emigrants. I never have known any person sent out by any society or by individuals to vote. This company never has exacted any pledge from those going out; all connexion with the company ceases on their arrival in the Territory... No directions have been given to the agents of the company in the Territory to resist the territorial laws, or otherwise; no question was asked of the agents as to politics when they were appointed, nor since. I have never heard that any one of them favored a resistance to the laws of the United States under any circumstances. ELI THAYER called and sworn. To Mr. Sherman: I reside in Worcester, Massachusetts. I have been connected with the Emigrant Aid Society, as vice-president, since its organization... I am familiar with the purposes and history of this company. We sent, first, men to explore the Territory of Kansas, that being the first Territory opened for settlement, to ascertain the character and resources of that Territory. This and other information we published and furnished gratuitously to all who applied for it. We then opened an office in Boston, when application could be made by those who wished to emigrate to Kansas. The secretary kept a book in which the names of these applicants were recorded. When a party of sufficient number was formed, the day was fixed for their departure, tickets were purchased by the company, at a reduced price, of various lines of transportation, and were furnished to the emigrants at cost. A conductor was furnished by the company for each party. His duty was to provide for their safe, expeditious, and economical conveyance to Kansas. We established local agents in the Territory, whose duty it was to receive these colonists, and to inform them of the best locations open to settlement. The company, in no instance, paid the passage of any emigrant. It made no conditions about the political opinion of the emigrants... It was not doubted that the great body of emigrants were in favor of making Kansas a free State. The company furnished these emigrants with no articles of personal property, and never, directly or indirectly, furnished them with any arms or munitions of war of any kind, and never invested a dollar for any such purpose... ... The moment they arrive at the place named in their ticket all connexion between them and the society ceases... The company built a hotel in Lawrence, at an expense of about $20,000. At that time there was no hotel worthy of the name in the Territory, there being but little capital in the Territory at the time, as is usual among all pioneers in a new country. This hotel the company leased to Mr. Eldridge, who furnished it, and it was destroyed on the 21st of May last. We also erected, and prepared to erect, mills in the Territory at different places, some eight or ten of them. The company, I think, had one other building in Lawrence, but I do not now recollect what it is. Some temporary sheds were also erected by the company for the accommodation of emigrants there until they could erect buildings of their own. These were the only buildings that the Emigrant Aid Society ever were interested in. The total expenditures of the company, for all purposes, since its organization have been less than $100,000... The company laid out no towns, and had no interest in laying out any. The towns were laid out by the settlers themselves, in some cases, the settlers making some arrangements to give the company certain lots to induce us to make investments there, and thus aid in building up the place. This was the case with the town association of Lawrence. The town association would have given similar advantages to any person or company of men who would have made improvements... In my opinion, the stock of the company will prove a profitable investment, if the company shall receive that protection from law enjoyed by other business organizations, as our interests and the interests of the settlers are mutual, never conflicting. Our investments in the Territory of Kansas have been for the benefit of settlers of all political parties, and from all portions of the States, without preference or partiality. NEW YORK CITY, June 26, 1856. ELI THAYER. 154. SOUTHERN MIGRATION TO KANSAS The following testimony before a Congressional committee in 1856, reveals Missouri interest in fostering pro-slave migration to Kansas. Throughout the South only spasmodic interest was taken in the promotion of migration from the slave states. Reports of Committees, 34 Congress, 1 & 2 sessions, Vol. 2, pp. 896-897. JOHN SCOTT called and sworn. THE first extraordinary effort that the Missourians made to meet the action of these emigrant aid societies, was in the fall of 1854, or the early part of the winter, to form societies in Kansas and Missouri, in which each member pledged himself to use all honorable and legal means to make Kansas a slave State. I cannot speak of but three counties, but I have heard that, in three counties there, societies existed. In our county I knew one society existed; it was a secret society. I do not know that these societies are now in operation; I attended one up to the 30th March, 1855, and then stopped attending them, and do not know about them since. I think, perhaps, through the influence of the members of these societies persons were induced to come over here to the election, but I do not think any who did come were members of this society. The objects attempted to be affected by this society, was to hunt up and induce pro-slavery men to come to this Territory and become actual settlers. I never heard of any fund; I deemed the society worthy, under the circumstances of the existing of the aid societies in the east. For Missourians to have done it at any time I should have considered a worthy object for the purpose of building up a bulwark around their domestic insitutions as a matter of defence of their slave property, but not for any political purpose... But since the 30th of March, 1855, I think that society has been superseded by another society, which has a fund for the purpose, of sending pro-slavery emigration to this Territory, and is regularly organized for that purpose. The fund is used in aiding emigrants, by loaning them money to get into the Territory, in providing claims, and entering the land. It is a self-defensive organization, intended to have a bearing upon the political institutions of the Territory, as far as slavery is concerned. So far as I know anything of the society, the means of the society is not to build up mills and hotels, but to aid individual settlers in their claims, and to do with the funds of the society for them what they individually would do with their own money for themselves. I think these conversations have been formed pretty extensively over Missouri, and I think persons have been selected in Missouri to go to other southern States and build up similar societies there, but to what extent that has been done I do not know... JOHN SCOTT 155. THE KNOW NOTHINGS One of the most puzzling things about the political situation of 1854 is the use, side by side, with the Anti-Nebraska movement of Know Nothingism. A movement of protest against the influence of the foreign born worked with the movement of protest against slavery extension |