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{{About|the history of the U.S. state of Kansas|information on the state today|Kansas}}
{{History of Kansas sidebar}}

The [[U.S. state]] of [[Kansas]], located on the eastern edge of the [[Great Plains]], was the home of nomadic [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribes who hunted the vast herds of [[American bison|bison (often called "buffalo")]]. In around 1450 AD, the Wichita People founded the great city of [[Etzanoa]]. The city of Etzanoa was abandoned in around 1700 AD. The region was explored by Spanish [[conquistador]]es in the 16th century. It was later explored by French [[fur trade|fur trappers]] who traded with the Native Americans. Most of Kansas became permanently part of the United States in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] of 1803. When the area was opened to settlement by the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]] of 1854 it became a battlefield that helped cause the [[American Civil War]]. Settlers from North and South came in order to vote slavery down or up. The free state element prevailed.

After the battle, Kansas was home to [[American frontier|frontier]] towns; their railroads were destinations for cattle drives from Texas. With the railroads came heavy immigration from the East, from Germany as well as some [[freedmen]] called "[[Exodusters]]". Farmers first tried to replicate Eastern patterns and grow corn and raise pigs, but they failed because of shortages of rainfall. The solution, as [[James Malin]] showed, was to switch to soft spring wheat and later to hard winter wheat.<ref>James Malin, ''Winter Wheat in the Golden Belt of Kansas'' (1944)</ref> The wheat was exported to Europe and was subject to wide variations in price. Many frustrated farmers joined the Populist movement around 1890, but conservative townspeople finally prevailed politically. They supported the progressive movement down to about 1940, but isolationism in foreign affairs combined with prosperity for the farmers and townsfolk made the state a center of conservative support for the Republican Party since 1940. Since 1945 the farm population has sharply declined and manufacturing has become more important, typified by the aircraft industry of [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]].

==Prehistory==
{{Kansas History|right|thumb}}

===The Paleo-Indians and Archaic peoples===
Around 7000 BC, paleolithic descendants of Asian immigrants into North America reached Kansas. Once in Kansas, the indigenous ancestors never abandoned Kansas. They were later augmented by other indigenous peoples migrating from other parts of the continent. These bands of newcomers encountered [[mammoth]]s, camels, [[ground sloth]]s, and horses. The sophisticated [[Game (hunting)|big-game]] hunters did not keep a balance, resulting in the "Pleistocene overkill", the rapid and systematic destruction of nearly all the species of large ice-age mammals in North America by 8000 BC. The hunters who pursued the mammoths may have represented the first of north Great Plains cycles of boom and bust, relentlessly exploiting the resource until it has been depleted or destroyed.<ref name="Frank H. Gille 1999">Frank H. Gille, ed. ''Encyclopedia of Kansas Indians Tribes, Nations and People of the Plains'' (1999)</ref>

After the disappearance of big-game hunters, some archaic groups survived by becoming generalists rather than specialists, foraging in seasonal movements across the plains. The groups did not abandon hunting altogether, but also consumed wild plant foods and small game. Their tools became more varied, with grinding and chopping implements becoming more common, a sign that seeds, fruits, and greens constituted a greater proportion of their diet. Also, pottery-making societies emerged.

===Introduction of agriculture===
For most of the Archaic period, people did not transform their natural environment in any fundamental way. The groups outside the region, particularly in [[Mesoamerica]], introduced major innovations, such as maize cultivation. Other groups in North America independently developed maize cultivation as well. Some archaic groups transferred from food gatherers to food producers around 3,000 years ago. They also possessed many of the cultural features that accompany semi-sedentary agricultural life: storage facilities, more permanent dwellings, larger settlements, and cemeteries or burial grounds. [[El Cuartelejo]] was the northernmost Indian [[pueblo]]. This settlement is the only pueblo in Kansas from which archaeological evidence has been recovered.<ref name="Frank H. Gille 1999"/>

Despite the early advent of farming, late Archaic groups still exercised little control over their natural environment. Wild food resources remained important components of their diet even after the invention of pottery and the development of irrigation. The introduction of agriculture never resulted in the complete abandonment of hunting and foraging, even in the largest of Archaic societies.

==Etzanoa==

[[Etzanoa]] is an ancient city founded by the [[Wichita people]] in about 1450. Etzanoa is located in present-day [[Arkansas City, Kansas]], near the [[Arkansas River]].<ref name="kelly">{{cite news|last=Kelly|first=David|title=Archaeologists explore a rural field in Kansas, and a lost city emerges|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-kansas-lost-city-20180819-htmlstory.html|accessdate=8 December 2018|work=Los Angeles Times|date=19 August 2018}}</ref>
In 1601, Juan de Oñate visited the city of Etzanoa. Oñate and the other explorers who accompanied him called the city "the Great Settlement". Etzanoa may have been home to about 20,000 people at the time Oñate and his expedition found and explored the city.<ref name="eztanoa">{{cite web|title=Etzanoa: The Great Settlement|date=4 March 2018|url=https://etzanoa.com/etzanoa/|publisher=Eztanoa Conservancy|accessdate=8 December 2018}}</ref>

==Early European exploration and local tribes==
{{Main|New France|Louisiana (New France)|French and Indian War|Treaty of Paris (1763)|New Spain|Louisiana (New Spain)|Treaty of Aranjuez (1801)}}

In 1541, [[Francisco Vázquez de Coronado]], the Spanish conquistador, visited Kansas, allegedly turning back near "[[Coronado Heights]]" in present-day Lindsborg. Near the Great Bend of the [[Arkansas River]], in a place he called ''[[Quivira]]'', he met the ancestors of the [[Wichita people]]. Near the Smoky Hill River, he met the ''Harahey,'' who were probably the ancestors of the [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]].<ref>Bolton, Herbert E. ''Coronado Knight of Pueblos and Plains.'' Albuquerque: U of NM Press, 1949, pp. 292–295</ref> This was the first time that the [[Plains Indians]] had seen horses. Later, they acquired horses from the Spanish, and rapidly radically altered their lifestyle and range.  
[[File:War dance in the interiour of a Konza lodge.jpg|thumb|Samuel Seymour's 1819 illustration of a [[Kansa people|Kansa]] lodge and dance is the oldest drawing known to be done in Kansas.]]
Following this transformation, the [[Kansa people|Kansa]] (sometimes Kaw) and [[Osage Nation]] (originally Ouasash) arrived in Kansas in the 17th century. The Kansa claimed that they had occupied the territory since 1673.  By the end of the 18th century, these two tribes were dominant in the eastern part of the future state: the Kansa on the [[Kansas River]] to the North and the Osage on the [[Arkansas River]] to the South. At the same time, the [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]] (sometimes Paneassa) were dominant on the plains to the west and north of the Kansa and Osage nations, in regions home to massive herds of bison. Europeans visited the Northern Pawnee in 1719. In 1720, the Spanish military's [[Villasur expedition]] was wiped out by [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]] and [[Otoe]] warriors near present-day [[Columbus, Nebraska]], effectively ending Spanish expedition into the region. The French commander at [[Fort Orleans]], [[Étienne de Bourgmont]], visited the [[Kansas River]] in 1724 and established a trading post there, near the main Kansa village at the mouth of the river. Around the same time, the [[Otoe]] also inhabited various areas around the northeast corner of Kansas.

==Louisiana Purchase==
{{Main|Louisiana Purchase|District of Louisiana|Louisiana Territory|Missouri Territory}}
[[File:frank bond 1912 louisiana and the louisiana purchase.jpg|thumb|Frank Bond's illustration of the Louisiana Purchase]]

Apart from brief explorations, neither France nor Spain had any settlement or military or other activity in Kansas. In 1763, following the [[Seven Years' War]] in which Great Britain defeated France, Spain acquired the French claims west of the Mississippi River. It returned this territory to France in 1803, keeping title to about {{convert|7500|sqmi|km2}}.

In the [[Louisiana Purchase]] of 1803, the United States (US) acquired all of the French claims west of the Mississippi River; the area of Kansas was [[Territories of the United States#Formerly unorganized territories|unorganized territory]]. In 1819 the United States confirmed Spanish rights to the {{convert|7500|sqmi|km2}} as part of the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] with Spain. That area became part of Mexico, which also ignored it. After the [[Mexican–American War]] and the US victory, the United States took over that part in 1848.

The [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] left [[St. Louis]] on a mission to explore the Louisiana Purchase all the way to the Pacific Ocean. In 1804, Lewis and Clark camped for three days at the [[confluence]] of the Kansas and Missouri rivers in what is today [[Kansas City, Kansas]] (today commemorated at the [[Kaw Point|Kaw Point Riverfront Park]]). They met French fur traders and mapped the area. In 1806, [[Zebulon Pike]] passed through Kansas and labeled it "the [[Great American Desert]]" on his maps. This view of Kansas would help form U.S. policy for the next 40 years, prompting the government to set it aside as land reserved for Native American resettlement.

From June 4, 1812, until August 10, 1821, the area that would become [[Kansas Territory]] 33 years later was part of the [[Missouri Territory]]. When Missouri was granted statehood in 1821 the area became unorganized territory and contained few if any permanent white settlers, except [[Fort Leavenworth]]. The Fort was established in 1827 by [[Henry Leavenworth]] with the [[3rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|3rd U.S. Infantry]] from [[St. Louis, Missouri]]; it is the first permanent European settlement in Kansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a211662.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412030430/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a211662.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=April 12, 2019|title=A Brief History of Fort Leavenworth|author=Partin, John W. Partin|year=1983|access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref> The fort was established as the westernmost outpost of the American military to protect trade along the [[Santa Fe Trail]] from [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. The trade came from the East, by land using the [[Boone's Lick Road]], or by water via the [[Missouri River]].<ref>{{cite book|title=K.C.: A History of Kansas City, Missouri|author=Dorsett, Lyle W. and Brown, A. Theodore|year=1978|publisher=Pruett Publishing Company|location=Boulder, Colorado}}</ref> This area, called the [[Boonslick]], was located due east in west-central Missouri and was settled by Upland Southerners from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee as early as 1812.<ref>{{cite book|last=Switzler|first=William|title=History of Boone County, Missouri|publisher=St. Louis Western Historical Company|year=1882|pages=129}}</ref> Its slave-owning population would contrast with settlers from New England who would eventually arrive in the 1850s.

[[File:Kansmap1840-60.jpg|thumb|350px]]
A section of the [[Santa Fe Trail]] through Kansas was used by emigrants on the [[Oregon Trail]], which opened in 1841. The westward trails served as vital commercial and military highways until the railroad took over this role in the 1860s. To travelers en route to [[Utah]], California, or [[Oregon]], Kansas was an essential way stop and outfitting location. [[Wagon Bed Spring]] (also Lower Spring or Lower Cimarron Spring) was an important watering spot on the [[Cimarron Cutoff]] of the Santa Fe Trail. Other important locations along the trail were the [[Point of Rocks (Kansas)|Point of Rocks]] and [[Pawnee Rock]].

===1820s–1840s: Indian territory===
Beginning in the 1820s, the area that would become Kansas was set aside as [[Indian Territory]] by the U.S. government, and was closed to settlement by whites. The government resettled to [[Indian Territory]] (now part of [[History of Oklahoma|Oklahoma]]) those Native American tribes based in eastern Kansas, principally the [[Kansa people|Kansa]] and [[Osage Nation|Osage]], opening land to move eastern tribes into the area. By treaty dated June 3, 1825, 20 million acres (81000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of land was ceded by the Kansa Nation to the United States, and the Kansa tribe was limited to a specific reservation in northeast Kansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol2/treaties/kan0222.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902124327/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/kan0222.htm|archive-date=2006-09-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the same month, the Osage Nation was limited to a reservation in southeast Kansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/vol2/treaties/osa0217.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902120605/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/osa0217.htm|archive-date=2006-09-02|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Missouri Shawano (or [[Shawnee]]) were the first Native Americans removed to the territory. By treaty made at St. Louis on November 7, 1825, the United States agreed to provide:
: "''the Shawanoe tribe of Indians within the State of Missouri, for themselves, and for those of the same nation now residing in [[Ohio]] who may hereafter immigrate to the west of the Mississippi, a tract of land equal to fifty miles [80 km] square, situated west of the State of Missouri, and within the purchase lately made from the Osage''."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol2/treaties/sha0262.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125210738/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sha0262.htm|archive-date=2011-11-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Lenape|Delaware]] came to Kansas from Ohio and other eastern areas by the treaty of September 24, 1829. The treaty described: 
: "''the country in the fork of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, extending up the Kansas River to the Kansas (Indian's) line, and up the Missouri River to Camp Leavenworth, and thence by a line drawn westerly, leaving a space {{convert|10|mi|km|spell=in}} wide, north of the Kansas boundary line, for an outlet''."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/del0304.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818213126/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/del0304.htm|archive-date=2006-08-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Map of Indian territory 1836.png|thumb|Map of Indian territories, 1836]]
After this point, the [[Indian Removal Act]] of 1830 expedited the process. By treaty dated August 30, 1831, the [[Ottawa (tribe)|Ottawa]] ceded land to the United States and moved to a small reservation on the Kansas River and its branches.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol2/treaties/ott0335.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902132329/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/ott0335.htm|archive-date=2006-09-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> The treaty was ratified April 6, 1832. On October 24, 1832, the U.S. government moved the [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]]s to a reservation in Kansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/KAPPLER/Vol2/treaties/kic0365.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902124710/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/kic0365.htm|archive-date=2006-09-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> On October 29, 1832, the [[Piankeshaw]] and [[Wea]] agreed to occupy 250 sections of land, bounded on the north by the Shawanoe; east by the western boundary line of Missouri; and west by the [[Kaskaskia]] and [[Peoria (tribe)|Peoria]] peoples.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/vol2/treaties/pia0382.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902122604/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pia0382.htm|archive-date=2006-09-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> By treaty made with the United States on September 21, 1833, the [[Otoe]] ceded their country south of the [[Little Nemaha River]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0503_0108_03_Oto1833.html|title=The Treaty with the Oto and Missouri Tribes of 1833<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=2006-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522121935/http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0503_0108_03_Oto1833.html|archive-date=2006-05-22|url-status=dead}}</ref>

By September 17, 1836, the confederacy of the [[Sauk people|Sauk]] and [[Meskwaki]], by treaty with the United States, moved north of Kickapoo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol2/treaties/sau0474.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060430200939/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sau0474.htm|archive-date=2006-04-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> By treaty of February 11, 1837, the United States agreed to convey to the [[Pottawatomi]] an area on the [[Osage River]], southwest of the [[Missouri River]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol2/treaties/pot0488.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902131812/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/pot0488.htm|archive-date=2006-09-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> The tract selected was in the southwest part of what is now [[Miami County, Kansas|Miami County]].

In 1842, after a treaty between the United States and the [[Wyandots]], the Wyandot moved to the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers (on land that was shared with the [[Delawares|Delaware]] until 1843).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/KAPPLER/Vol2/treaties/wya0534.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818075045/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/wya0534.htm|archive-date=2006-08-18|url-status=dead}}</ref> In an unusual provision, 35 Wyandot were given "[[Wyandot floats|floats]]" in the 1842 treaty – ownership of sections of land that could be located anywhere west of the Missouri River. In 1847, the Pottawatomi were moved again, to an area containing {{convert|576,000|acre|km2|abbr=on}}, being the eastern part of the lands ceded to the United States by the Kansa tribe in 1846. This tract comprised a part of the present counties of [[Pottawatomie County, Kansas|Pottawatomie]], [[Wabaunsee County, Kansas|Wabaunsee]], [[Jackson County, Kansas|Jackson]] and [[Shawnee County, Kansas|Shawnee]].<ref name="Frank H. Gille 1999"/>

==Early 1850s and the territory organization==
Despite the treaties establishing Native American ownership of parts of Kansas, by 1850 European Americans were illegally [[squatting]] on their land and clamoring for the entire area to be opened for settlement. Presaging events that were soon to come, several U.S. Army forts, including [[Fort Riley]], were soon established deep in Indian Territory to guard travelers on the various Western trails.

Although the [[Cheyenne]] and [[Arapaho]] tribes were still negotiating with the United States for land in western Kansas (the current state of Colorado) – they signed a treaty on September 17, 1851<ref>{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0594.htm|title=CONTENTdm|website=digital.library.okstate.edu|access-date=2006-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812163225/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/kappler/Vol2/treaties/sio0594.htm|archive-date=2014-08-12|url-status=dead}}</ref> – momentum was already building to settle the land.<ref name="Frank H. Gille 1999"/>

===Kansas–Nebraska Act===
{{Main|Kansas–Nebraska Act}}

Congress began the process of creating Kansas Territory in 1852. That year, petitions were presented at the first session of the [[Thirty-second Congress]] for a territorial organization of the region lying west of Missouri and [[Iowa]]. No action was taken at that time. However, during the next session, on December 13, 1852, a Representative from Missouri submitted to the House a bill organizing the [[Territory of Platte]]: all the tract lying west of Iowa and Missouri, and extending west to the [[Rocky Mountains]]. The bill was referred to the [[United States House Committee on Territories]], and passed by the full [[U.S. House of Representatives]] on February 10, 1853. However, Southern Senators stalled the progression of the bill in the Senate, while the implications of the bill on slavery and the [[Missouri Compromise]] were debated. Heated debate over the bill and other competing proposals would continue for a year, before eventually resulting in the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]], which became law on May 30, 1854, establishing the [[Nebraska Territory]] and [[Kansas Territory]].

===Native American territory ceded===
[[File:One-Called-From-A-Distance Chippewa.jpg|thumb|right|Chippewa named "One-Called-From-A-Distance"]]
Meanwhile, by the summer of 1853, it was clear that eastern Kansas would soon be opened to American settlers.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}} The Commissioner of the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] negotiated new treaties that would assign new reservations with annual federal subsidies for the Indians. Nearly all the tribes in the eastern part of the Territory ceded the greater part of their lands prior to the passage of the Kansas territorial act in 1854, and were eventually moved south to the future state of Oklahoma.

In the three months immediately preceding the passage of the bill, treaties were quietly made at Washington with the [[Delaware (tribe)|Delaware]], [[Otoe]], [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]], [[Kaskaskia]], [[Shawnee]], [[Sauk people|Sauk]], [[Meskwaki]] and other tribes, whereby the greater part of eastern Kansas, lying within one or two hundred miles of the Missouri border, was suddenly opened to white settlement.  (The [[Kansa people|Kansa]] reservation had already been reduced by treaty in 1846.) On March 15, 1854, Otoe and Missouri Indians ceded to the United States all their lands west of the Mississippi, except a small strip on the [[Big Blue River (Kansas)|Big Blue River]]. On May 6 and May 10, 1854, the [[Shawnee]]s ceded {{convert|6100000|acre|km2}}, reserving only {{convert|200000|acre|km2}} for homes. Also on May 6, 1854, the Delaware ceded all their lands to the United States, except a reservation defined in the treaty. On May 17, the Iowa similarly ceded their lands, retaining only a small reservation. On May 18, 1854, the [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]] too ceded their lands, except {{convert|150000|acre|km2}} in the western part of the Territory. In 1854 lands were also ceded by the [[Kaskaskia]], [[Peoria (tribe)|Peoria]], [[Piankeshaw]] and [[Wea]] and by the Sauk and Meskwaki.<ref>Joseph B. Herring, "The Chippewa and Munsee Indians: Acculturation and Survival in Kansas, 1850s-1870," ''Kansas History,'' Dec 1983, Vol. 6 Issue 4, pp. 212–220</ref>

The final step in Americanizing the Indians was taking land from tribal control and assigning it to individual Indian households, to buy and sell as European Americans would. For example, in 1854, the [[Chippewa]] (Swan Creek and Black River bands) inhabited {{convert|8320|acre|km2}} in [[Franklin County, Kansas|Franklin County]], but in 1859 the tract was transferred to individual Chippewa families.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

==Kansas Territory==
{{Main|Kansas Territory}} 
Upon the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act on May 30, 1854, the borders of Kansas Territory were set from the Missouri border to the summit of the [[Rocky Mountains|Rocky Mountain]] range (now in central Colorado); the southern boundary was the [[37th parallel north]], the northern was the [[40th parallel north]]. North of the 40th parallel was Nebraska Territory. When Congress set the southern border of the Kansas Territory as the 37th parallel, it was thought that the Osage southern border was also the 37th parallel. The Cherokees immediately complained, saying that it was not the true boundary and that the border of Kansas should be moved north to accommodate the actual border of the Cherokee land. This became known as the [[Cherokee Strip (Kansas)|Cherokee Strip controversy]].

===An invitation to violence===
The most controversial provision in the Kansas–Nebraska Act was the stipulation that settlers in Kansas Territory would vote on whether to allow slavery within its borders. This provision repealed the [[Missouri Compromise]] of 1820, which had prohibited slavery in any new states created north of [[Parallel 36°30′ north|latitude 36°30']]. Predictably, violence resulted between the Northerners and Southerners who rushed to settle there in order to control the vote.

Within a few days after the passage of the Act, hundreds of [[Slavery in the United States|pro-slavery]] Missourians crossed into the adjacent territory, selected an area of land, and then united with other Missourians in a meeting or meetings, intending to establish a pro-slavery [[Preemption Act of 1841|preemption]] upon the entire region. As early as June 10, 1854, the Missourians held a meeting at Salt Creek Valley, a trading post {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in}} west of Fort Leavenworth, at which a "Squatter's Claim Association" was organized. They said they were in favor of making Kansas a [[slave state]], if it should require half the citizens of Missouri, musket in hand, to emigrate there, and even to sacrifice their lives in accomplishing this end.

To counter this action, the [[Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company]] (and other smaller organizations) quickly arranged to send anti-slavery settlers (known as "[[Free-Stater (Kansas)|Free-Staters]]") into Kansas in 1854 and 1855. The principal towns founded by the [[New England]]ers were [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]], [[Manhattan, Kansas|Manhattan]], and [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]]. Several Free-State men also came to Kansas Territory from Ohio, Iowa, Illinois and other Midwestern states.

====Bleeding Kansas====
{{Main|Bleeding Kansas}}
[[File:Bleeding Kansas Poster.jpg|thumb|1855 Free-State poster]]
Despite the proximity and opposite aims of the settlers, the lid was largely kept on the violence until the election of the Kansas Territorial legislature on March 30, 1855. On that date, Missourians who had streamed across the border (known as "[[Border Ruffians]]") filled the ballot boxes in favor of pro-slavery candidates. As a result, pro-slavery candidates prevailed at every polling district except one (the future [[Riley County]]), and the first official legislature was overwhelmingly composed of pro-slavery delegates.

From 1855 to 1858, Kansas Territory experienced extensive violence and some open battles. This period, known as "Bleeding Kansas" or "the Border Wars", directly presaged the [[American Civil War]]. The major incidents of Bleeding Kansas include the [[Wakarusa War]], the [[Sacking of Lawrence]], the [[Pottawatomie massacre]], the [[Battle of Black Jack]], the [[Battle of Osawatomie]], and the [[Marais des Cygnes massacre]].

=====Wakarusa War=====
{{Main|Wakarusa War}}
On December 1, 1855, a small army of Missourians, acting under the command of [[Douglas County, Kansas]] Sheriff Samuel J. Jones laid siege to the Free-State stronghold of Lawrence in what would later become known as "The Wakarusa War". A treaty of peace negotiation was announced amid much disorder and cries for the reading of the treaty shortly afterwards. It quelled the disorder and its provisions were generally accepted.

=====Sacking of Lawrence=====
{{Main|Sacking of Lawrence}}
On May 21, 1856, pro-slavery forces led by Sheriff Jones attacked Lawrence, burning the Free-State Hotel to the ground, destroying two printing presses, and robbing homes.

=====Pottawatomie massacre=====
{{Main|Pottawatomie massacre}}
[[File:John brown abo.jpg|thumb|[[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] about 1856]]

The Pottawatomie massacre occurred during the night of May 24 to the morning of May 25, 1856. In what appears to be a reaction to the [[Sacking of Lawrence]], [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] and a band of [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionists]] (some of them members of the [[Pottawatomie Rifles]]) killed five settlers, thought to be pro-slavery, north of Pottawatomie Creek in [[Franklin County, Kansas]]. Brown later said that he had not participated in the killings during the Pottawatomie massacre, but that he did approve of them. He went into hiding after the killings, and two of his sons, John Jr. and Jason, were arrested. During their confinement, they were allegedly mistreated, which left John Jr. mentally scarred. On June 2, Brown led a successful attack on a band of Missourians led by Captain [[Henry Pate]] in the [[Battle of Black Jack]]. Pate and his men had entered Kansas to capture Brown and others. That autumn, Brown went back into hiding and engaged in other [[guerrilla warfare]] activities.

====Territorial constitutions====
{{Main|Constitutions of Kansas}}
The violently feuding pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions tried to defeat the opposition by pushing through their own version of a state constitution, that would either endorse or condemn slavery. Congress had the final say.<ref>David M. Potter, ''The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861'' (1976) ch. 12</ref>

=====Topeka Constitution=====
The [[Topeka Constitution]] was adopted on November 11, 1855, in Topeka by delegates elected from across the Kansas Territory. This Free State document was in response to the fraudulent takeover of the Territorial government by pro slavery forces seven months earlier. The Topeka Constitution's Bill of Rights proposed "There shall be no slavery in this state." It was ratified by the people of the Territory on December 15, 1855, and presented in Congress in March 1856. It passed in the U.S. House of Representatives but was prevented from a vote in the Senate by pro-slavery southern senators.

=====Lecompton Constitution=====
The [[Lecompton Constitution]] was adopted by a Convention convened by the official pro-slavery government on November 7, 1857. The constitution would have allowed slavery in Kansas as drafted, but the slavery provision was put to a vote. After a series of votes on the provision and the constitution were boycotted alternatively by pro-slavery settlers and Free-State settlers, the Lecompton Constitution was eventually presented to the U.S. Congress for approval. In the end, because it was never clear if the constitution represented the will of the people, it was rejected.

=====Leavenworth Constitution=====
While the [[Lecompton Constitution]] was being debated, a new Free-State legislature was elected and seated in Kansas Territory. The new legislature convened a new convention, which framed the [[Leavenworth Constitution]]. This constitution was the most radically progressive of the four proposed, outlawing slavery and providing a framework for women's rights. The constitution was adopted by the convention at Leavenworth on April 3, 1858, and by the people at an election held May 18, 1858 (all while the Lecompton Constitution was still under consideration).

President Buchanan sent the Lecompton Constitution to Congress for approval. The Senate approved the admission of Kansas as a state under the Lecompton Constitution, despite the opposition of Senator Douglas, who believed that the Kansas referendum on the Constitution, by failing to offer the alternative of prohibiting slavery, was unfair. The measure was subsequently blocked in the House of Representatives, where northern congressmen refused to admit Kansas as a slave state. Senator [[James Henry Hammond|James Hammond]] of South Carolina characterized this resolution as the expulsion of the state, asking, "If Kansas is driven out of the Union for being a slave state, can any Southern state remain within it with honor?"

=====Wyandotte Constitution=====
Following the failure of the Lecompton and Leavenworth charters, a fourth constitution was drafted; the [[Wyandotte Constitution]] was adopted by the convention which framed it on July 29, 1859. It was adopted by the people at an election held October 4, 1859. It outlawed slavery but was far less progressive than the Leavenworth Constitution. Kansas was admitted into the Union as a [[slave and free states|free state]] under this constitution on January 29, 1861.<ref name="Cheatham Slavery">Gary L. Cheatham, [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/1998autumn_cheatham.pdf {{"'}}Slavery All the Time or Not At All': The Wyandotte Constitution Debate, 1859–1861"], ''Kansas History '' 21 (Autumn 1998): 168–187.</ref>

===End of hostilities===
By the time the Wyandotte Constitution was adopted in October 1859, it was clear that the pro-slavery forces had lost control of Kansas. With this dawning realization and the departure of John Brown from the state, Bleeding Kansas violence virtually ended. The new issue was [[John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry]], a national event, later that month.

==Statehood==
{{Main|Admission to the Union|List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union}}
[[File:Great Seal of the State of Kansas Colored.svg|thumb|[[Seal of Kansas|The Great Seal of the State of Kansas]] was established by the legislature on May 25, 1861. The design was submitted by Senator [[John James Ingalls]]. He also proposed the state motto, "Ad astra per aspera", which means "to the stars through difficulty".]]
Kansas became the 34th state admitted to the Union on January 29, 1861.

The 1860s saw several important developments in the history of Kansas, including participation in the Civil War, the beginning of the cattle drives, the roots of Prohibition in Kansas (which would fully take hold in the 1880s), and the start of the [[Indian Wars]] on the western plains. [[James H. Lane (Senator)|James Lane]] was elected to the Senate from the state of Kansas in 1861, and reelected in 1865.

===Civil War===
{{Main|Kansas in the American Civil War}}
After years of small-scale civil war, Kansas was admitted into the Union as a free state under the "Wyandotte Constitution" on January 29, 1861. Most people gave strong support for the Union cause. However, guerrilla warfare and raids from pro-slavery forces, many spilling over from Missouri, occurred during the Civil War.<ref name="Cheatham Slavery" />

At the start of the war in April 1861, the Kansas government had no well-organized militia, no arms, accoutrements or supplies, nothing with which to meet the demands, except the united will of officials and citizens. During the years 1859 to 1860, the military organizations had fallen into disuse or been entirely broken up. The first Kansas regiment was called on June 3, 1861, and the seventeenth, the last raised during the Civil War, July 28, 1864. The entire quota assigned to the Kansas was 16,654, and the number raised was 20,097, leaving a surplus of 3,443 to the credit of Kansas. Statistics indicated that losses of Kansas regiments in killed in battle and from disease are greater per thousand than those of any other State.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

Apart from small formal battles, there were 29 Confederate raids into Kansas during the war.<ref>Gary L. Cheatham, "'Desperate Characters': The Development and Impact of the Confederate Guerrillas In Kansas," ''Kansas History,'' Sept 1991, Vol. 14 Issue 3, pp. 144–161</ref> The most serious episode came when [[Lawrence, Kansas]] came under attack on August 21, 1863, by guerrillas led by [[William Clarke Quantrill]]. It was in part retaliation for "[[Jayhawker]]" raids against pro-Confederate settlements in Missouri.<ref>Albert Castel, "The Jayhawkers and Copperheads of Kansas" ''Civil War History,'' Sept 1959, Vol. 5 Issue 3, pp. 283–293</ref><ref>Donald Gilmore, "Revenge in Kansas, 1863," ''History Today,'' March 1993, Vol. 43 Issue 3, pp. 47–53</ref><ref>Daniel E. Sutherland, ''A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War'' (2009)</ref>

====Lawrence Massacre====
[[File:Battle of Lawrence.png|thumb|right|Quantrill's 1863 raid burned the town of Lawrence and killed 164 townspeople.]]
[[File:GenGACuster.jpg|thumb|right|[[George Armstrong Custer]] led U.S. troops against Native Americans in western Kansas.]] 
{{Main|Lawrence Massacre}} 
After Union Brigadier General [[Thomas Ewing Jr.]] ordered the imprisonment of women who had provided aid to Confederate guerrillas, tragically the jail's roof collapsed, killing five. These deaths enraged guerrillas in Missouri. On August 21, 1863, [[William Quantrill]] led Quantrill's Raid into [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]], burned much of the city and killed over 150 unarmed men and boys. In addition to the jail collapse, Quantrill also rationalized the attack on this citadel of abolition would bring revenge for any wrongs, real or imagined that the Southerners had suffered at the hands of Jayhawkers.

====Baxter Springs====
{{Main|Battle of Baxter Springs}} 
The [[Battle of Baxter Springs]], sometimes called the Baxter Springs Massacre, was a minor battle in the War, fought on October 6, 1863, near the modern-day town of [[Baxter Springs, Kansas]]. The [[Battle of Mine Creek]], also known as the Battle of the Osage was a [[cavalry]] battle that occurred in Kansas during the war.

====Marais des Cygnes====
{{Main|Battle of Marais des Cygnes}} 
On October 25, 1864, the [[Battle of Marais des Cygnes]] occurred in [[Linn County, Kansas]]. This Battle of Trading Post was between Major General [[Sterling Price]] and Union forces under Major General [[Alfred Pleasonton]]. Price, after fleeing south after a defeat at Kansas City, was pushed out by Union forces.

===Indian Wars in Kansas===
{{Main|Indian Wars}}
[[Fort Larned National Historic Site|Fort Larned]] (central Kansas) was established in 1859 as a base of military operations against hostile Indians of the [[Great Plains|Central Plain]]s, to protect traffic along the [[Santa Fe Trail]] and after 1861 became an agency for the administration of the Central Plains Indians by the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] under the terms of the [[Fort Wise Treaty]] of 1861.

===Kansas Pacific railroad===
[[File:Kansaspacificgrants.jpg|thumb|The Kansas Pacific main line shown on an 1869 map]]
{{Main|Kansas Pacific Railway}}
In 1863, the Union Pacific Eastern Division (renamed the [[Kansas Pacific]] in 1869) was authorized by the [[United States Congress]]'s [[Pacific Railway Act]] to create the southerly branch of the [[transcontinental railroad]] alongside the Union Pacific. Pacific Railway Act also authorized large [[land grant]]s to the railroad along its mainline. The company began construction on its main line westward from Kansas City in September 1863.
{|align="left" border="0" class="wikitable"
|- 
! Date || Major junctions
|- 
| 1863 || [[Kansas City Metropolitan Area|Kansas City]]
|- 
| 1864 || [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]]
|- 
| 1866 || [[Junction City, Kansas|Junction City]]
|-
| 1867 || [[Salina, Kansas|Salina]]
|-
| 1870 || [[Denver]]
|} 
{{Clear}}

In the postwar era, many railroads were planned, but not all were actually built. The nationwide [[Panic of 1873]] dried up funding. Land speculators and local boosters identified many potential towns, and those reached by the railroad had a chance, while the others became ghost towns. In Kansas, nearly 5000 towns were mapped out, but by 1970 only 617 were actually operating. In the mid-20th century, closeness to an interstate exchange determined whether town would flourish or struggle for business.<ref>Raymond A. Mohl, ''The New City: Urban America in the Industrial Age, 1860-1920'' (1985) p 69</ref>

===Cattle towns and Wild West===
{{Main|Cattle drives in the United States}}
After the Civil War, the railroads did not reach the main cattle-ranching areas in Texas, so [[cowboy]]s brought cattle to Kansas rail heads. Initially this was via the [[Santa Fe Trail]]. 1867, [[Joseph McCoy|Joseph G. McCoy]] built stockyards in [[Abilene, Kansas]] and helped develop the [[Chisholm Trail]], encouraging Texas cattlemen to undertake cattle drives to his stockyards from 1867 to 1887. The stockyards became the largest west of [[Kansas City metropolitan area|Kansas City]]. Once the cattle had been driven north, they were shipped eastward from the railhead of the [[Kansas Pacific Railway]].<ref>Robert R. Dykstra, ''The Cattle Towns'' (1983)</ref>

Kansas in the 1870s was home to many storied [[American frontier|Wild West]] figures. In 1871, [[Wild Bill Hickok]] became marshal of [[Abilene, Kansas]]. His encounter there with John Wesley Hardin resulted in the latter fleeing the town after Wild Bill managed to disarm him. Hickok was later a deputy marshal at [[Fort Riley]] and a marshal at [[Hays, Kansas|Hays]]. [[Dodge City, Kansas|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, Kansas|Meade]]. [[Coronado, Kansas|Coronado]] was involved in one of the bloodiest [[County seat war|county seat fights]] in the history of the [[American West]]. The shoot-out on February 27, 1887, with boosters – some would say hired gunmen – from nearby [[Leoti, Kansas|Leoti]] left several people dead and wounded.

The [[Big Well (Kansas)|Big Well]] at [[Greensburg, Kansas]] was built in the 1880s to provide water for the Santa Fe and Rock Island railroads. At {{convert|109|ft|m}} deep and {{convert|32|ft|m}} in diameter it is the world's largest hand-dug well.

===Exodusters===
In 1879, after the end of Reconstruction in the South, thousands of Freedmen moved from Southern states to Kansas. Known as the [[Exodusters]], they were lured by the prospect of good, cheap land and better treatment. The all-black town of [[Nicodemus, Kansas]], which was founded in 1877, was an organized settlement that predates the Exodusters but is often associated with them.<ref>[[Nell Irvin Painter]], ''Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas After Reconstruction'' (1992)</ref>

===Prohibition===
{{Main|Alcohol laws of Kansas}}
On February 19, 1881, Kansas became the first state to amend its constitution to [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibit all alcoholic beverages]]. This action was spawned by the [[temperance movement]], and was enforced by the ax-toting [[Carrie A. Nation]] beginning in 1888. After 1890 prohibition was joined with progressivism to create a reform movement that elected four successive governors between 1905 and 1919; they favored extreme prohibition enforcement policies, and claimed Kansas was truly dry. Kansas did not repeal prohibition until 1948, and even then it continued to prohibit public bars, a restriction which was not lifted until 1987. Kansas did not allow retail liquor sales on Sundays until 2005, and most localities still prohibit Sunday liquor sales. By the [[Alcohol laws of Kansas]] today 29 counties are [[dry county|dry counties]].<ref>Robert Smith Bader, ''Prohibition in Kansas: A History'' (1986)</ref>

===Religion===
The city of [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]] played a notable role in the history of American Christianity around the beginning of the 20th century. [[Charles Sheldon]], a leader in the [[Social Gospel]] movement who first used the phrase [[What would Jesus do?]], preached in Topeka. Topeka was also the home to the church of [[Charles Fox Parham]], whom many historians associate with the beginning of the modern [[Pentecostalism]] movement.<ref>Alan F. Bearman and Jennifer L. Mills 2009. "Adapting Christianity to the Challenges of the American West", ''Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains'', 32(106)</ref>

==Farming==
[[File:Kansas-bountiful-1907.jpg|thumb|Boosterism: cover of a promotional booklet published in 1907 by the Rock Island railroad]]

===Environment===
Early settlers discovered that Kansas was not the "Great American Desert", but they also found that the very harsh climate—with tornadoes, blizzards, drought, hail, floods and grasshoppers—made for the high risk of a ruined crop. Many early settlers were financially ruined, and especially in the early 1890s, either protested through the Populist movement or went back east. In the 20th century, crop insurance, new conservation techniques, and large-scale federal aid have lowered the risk. Immigrants, especially Germans and their children, comprised the largest element of settlers after 1860; they were attracted by the good soil, low priced lands from the railroad companies, and (if they were American citizens) the chance to homestead {{convert|160|acre|km2}} and receive title to the land at no cost from the federal government.

The problem of blowing dust came not because farmers grew too much wheat, but because the rainfall was too little to grow enough wheat to keep the topsoil from blowing away. In the 1930s techniques and technologies of soil conservation, most of which had been available but ignored before the Dust Bowl conditions began, were promoted by the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) of the US Department of Agriculture, so that, with cooperation from the weather, soil condition was much improved by 1940.<ref>R. Douglas Hurt, et al. "Agricultural Technology in the Dust Bowl, 1932-40," ''Great Plains: Environment and Culture,'' 1979, pp. 139–156</ref>

===Farm life===
On the [[Great Plains]] very few single men attempted to operate a farm or ranch; farmers clearly understood the need for a hard-working wife, and numerous children, to handle the many chores, including child-rearing, feeding and clothing the family, managing the housework, feeding the hired hands, and, especially after the 1930s, handling the paperwork and financial details.<ref>Deborah Fink, ''Agrarian Women: Wives and Mothers in Rural Nebraska, 1880-1940'' (1992)</ref> During the early years of settlement in the late 19th century, farm women played an integral role in assuring family survival by working outdoors. After a generation or so, women increasingly left the fields, thus redefining their roles within the family. New conveniences such as sewing and washing machines encouraged women to turn to domestic roles. The scientific housekeeping movement was promoted across the land by the media and government extension agents, as well as county fairs which featured achievements in home cookery and canning, advice columns for women in the farm papers, and home economics courses in the schools.<ref>Chad Montrie, "'Men Alone Cannot Settle a Country:' Domesticating Nature in the Kansas-Nebraska Grasslands," ''Great Plains Quarterly,'' Fall 2005, Vol. 25 Issue 4, pp. 245–258</ref> 
[[File:Volga-Germans-US.jpg|thumb|left|Temporary quarters for [[Volga Germans]] in central Kansas, 1875]]
 
Although the eastern image of farm life on the prairies emphasizes the isolation of the lonely farmer and farm life, in reality rural folk created a rich social life for themselves. They often sponsored activities that combined work, food, and entertainment such as [[barn raising]]s, corn huskings, quilting bees,<ref>Karl Ronning, "Quilting in Webster County, Nebraska, 1880-1920," ''Uncoverings,'' 1992, Vol. 13, pp 169-191</ref> Grange meeting, church activities, and school functions. The womenfolk organized shared meals and potluck events, as well as extended visits between families.<ref>Nathan B. Sanderson, "More Than a Potluck," ''Nebraska History,'' Fall 2008, Vol. 89 Issue 3, pp. 120–131</ref>

===Manufacturing farm equipment===
In 1947, [[Lyle Yost]] founded Hesston Manufacturing Company. It specialized in farm equipment, including self-propelled windrowers and the StakHand hay harvester. In 1974, Hesston Company commissioned its first belt buckles,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bucklesofestes.com/hesston_history.htm|title=Hesston National Finals Rodeo Belt Buckle History|website=www.bucklesofestes.com}}</ref> which became popular on the [[rodeo]] circuit and with collectors. In 1991, the American-based equipment manufacturer [[AGCO Corporation]] purchased [[Hesston Corporation]] and farm equipment is still manufactured in the city.

===1890s===
In 1896 [[William Allen White]], editor of the ''Emporia Gazette'' attracted national attention with a scathing attack on [[William Jennings Bryan]], the Democrats, and the Populists titled "What's the Matter With Kansas?"<ref>See [https://web.archive.org/web/20021231002906/http://www.kancoll.org/articles/what's_the_matter_with_kansas.html online edition]</ref> White sharply ridiculed Populist leaders for letting Kansas slip into economic stagnation and not keeping up economically with neighboring states because their anti-business policies frightened away economic capital from the state. The Republicans sent out hundreds of thousands of copies of the editorial in support of [[William McKinley]] during the [[1896 United States presidential election]]. While McKinley carried the small towns and cities of the state, Bryan swept the wheat farms and won the electoral vote, even as McKinley won the national vote.

==20th century==
===Progressive era===
Kansas was a center of the [[Progressive Era|progressive movement]], with enthusiastic support from the middle classes. Much of the leadership was provided by Republican newspaper editors, such as [[William Allen White]] of the ''Emporia Gazette'', [[Joseph L. Bristow]] of Salina, and Edward Hoch, of the ''Marion Record''. Religion and gender played a role. Methodists and crusaders from the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]] (WCTU) demanded the end of the liquor business. WCTU activists also became supporters of woman suffrage.<ref>Robert Sherman La Forte, ''Leaders of reform: progressive Republicans in Kansas, 1900-1916'' (University Press of Kansas, 1974)</ref>  White called for a direct primary because Republicans attended the Democratic caucus in order to nominate the weakest candidate; Democrats did the same and thus the weakest men get nominated and elected. A direct primary would let the Republicans voters select the best candidate for their party and likewise the Democrats.<ref>Robert W. Richmond, ''Kansas,'' (1974)  p. 190.</ref> White never ran for office but Bristow was elected senator in 1908 and Hoch governor in 1904 and 1906. Hoch denounced the conservative wing of his party:<ref>Richmond, ''Kansas,'' (1974)  p. 190–191.</ref> <blockquote>it grows out of unwise leadership; of unfair standards of republicanism; of factional intolerance; of the multiplicity of useless offices; of extravagance in public expenditures; of enormous increase in burdens of taxation.</blockquote>

According to Craig Miner, the main issues of progressive era Kansas (in chronological order), were the flood of 1903, conservation, the battle to control Standard Oil in 1905, regulation of railroads and trusts, capital punishment, women's rights, public health, urban reform, the Progressive Party campaign of 1912, and isolationism in foreign policy. In addition there was a long debate on the state purchase of school textbooks. The state wrote, printed and sold its school books until 1937. Supervision was lax and the textbooks were poorly done—filled with typos, grammatical errors, garbled passages and poor artwork. However, the state did save some money.<ref>Craig Miner, ''Kansas'' (2002) pp, 205–208.</ref>

According to Gene Clanton, Populism and progressivism in Kansas had similarities but different bases of support. Both opposed corruption and trusts. Populism emerged earlier and came out of the farm community. It was radically egalitarian in favor of the disadvantaged classes; it was weak in the towns and cities except in labor unions. Progressivism, on the other hand, was a later movement. It emerged after the 1890s from the urban business and professional communities. Most of its activists had opposed populism. It was elitist, and emphasized education and expertise. Its goals were to enhance efficiency, reduce waste, and enlarge the opportunities for upward social mobility. However, some former Populists changed their emphasis after 1900 and supported progressive reforms.<ref>Gene Clanton, "Populism, Progressivism, and Equality: The Kansas Paradigm" ''Agricultural History'' (1977) 51#3 pp.&nbsp;559–581.</ref>

The new [[city manager]] system was designed by progressives to increase efficiency and reduce partisanship and avoid the bribery of elected local officials. It was promoted in the press, led by Henry J. Allen of the ''Wichita Beacon,'' and pushed through by Governor [[Arthur Capper]].   By the 1980s 52 Kansas cities used the system.<ref>H. Edward Flentje, "The Political Roots of City Managers in Kansas" ''Kansas History'' (1984) 7#2 pp. 139-158.</ref>

===1910s===
In 1915, the El Dorado Oil Field, around the city of [[El Dorado, Kansas|El Dorado]], was the first oil field that was found using science/geologic mapping, and part of the [[Mid-Continent oil province]]. By 1918, the El Dorado Oil Field was the largest single field producer in the US, and was responsible for 12.8% of national oil production and 9% of the world production. It was deemed by some as "the oil field that won [[World War I]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kansastravel.org/stapletonoilwell.htm|title=Stapleton Oil Well Number One - El Dorado, Kansas|work=kansastravel.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/commerceresults.php?id=138|title=El Dorado Oil Field|author=designed by: logicmaze, inc.|work=kansassampler.org|access-date=2015-03-19|archive-date=2019-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204231149/http://www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/commerceresults.php?id=138|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70019374|title=The discovery and development of the El Dorado (Kansas) oil field|author=L.H. Skelton|date=16 November 1997|journal=Usgs.gov|volume=19|issue=1–2|pages=48–53}}</ref>

In World War I, 80,000 Kansans enlisted in the military after April, 1917 when the United States declared war on Germany. They were attached mostly to the 35th, the 42nd, the 89th, and the 92nd infantry divisions. The state's large [[German Americans|German element]] had favored neutrality and were under close watch. Often they were forced to buy war bonds or stop speaking German in public. German churches largely switched to English at this time.<ref>Miner, ‘’Kansas’’ (2002) pp, 238–239.</ref>  The intense nationalism of the war years undermined progressivism and led to conservative business dominance in the 1920s. However, the efficiency dimension persisted.<ref>Michael Malone and Richard W. Etulian, ''The American West'' (1989) p. 72.</ref>

===1920s===
While urban Kansas prospered in the 1920s, the farm economy had overexpanded when wheat prices were high during the war, and had to cut back sharply. Many farmers took out large mortgages to buy out their neighbors in 1919, and now were hard pressed.

In 1922, suffragist [[Ella Uphay Mowry]] became 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."<ref>"[https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p16007coll36/id/28707/ Less of Oratory and More Work Novel Platform]." Alliance, Ohio: ''The Alliance Review and Leader'', April 21, 1922.</ref><ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4581045/mrs-w-d-mowry-dies-aug-2-1923/ Mrs. W.D. Mowry Dies]." Emporia, Kansas: ''The Emporia Gazette'', August 2, 1923, p. 5.</ref><ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4581070/mrs-w-d-mowry-dies-denver-topeka/ Pioneer Woman Candidate for Governor Dies: Mrs. W.D. Mowry on Republican Ticket in Primary Last Year]." Concordia, Kansas: ''Concordia Blade-Empire'', August 2, 1923, front page.</ref>

The [[KKK]] (Ku Klux Klan) flourished briefly in the early 1920s. It faced several legal battles, and collapsed after 1925.<ref>Charles William Sloan, Jr., [https://web.archive.org/web/20031019130216/http://kancoll.org/khq/1974/74_3_sloan.htm "Kansas Battles the Invisible Empire: The Legal Ouster of the KKK From Kansas, 1922–1927"], ''[[Kansas Historical Quarterly]]'' Fall, 1974 (Vol. 40, No. 3), pp. 393–409 (''ed''. explains in detail how the KKK worked in Kansas.)</ref>

The [[flag of Kansas]] was designed in 1925. It was officially adopted by the Kansas State Legislature in 1927 and modified in 1961 (the word "Kansas" was added below the seal in gold block lettering). It was first flown at [[Fort Riley]] by [[Governor of Kansas|Governor]] [[Ben S. Paulen]] in 1927 for the troops at Fort Riley and for the [[Kansas National Guard]].

William Allen White in his novels and short stories, developed his idea of the small town as a metaphor for understanding social change and for preaching the necessity of community. While he expressed his views in terms of his small Kansas city, he tailored his rhetoric to the needs and values of all of urban America. The cynicism of the post-World War I world stilled his imaginary literature, but for the remainder of his life he continued to propagate his vision of small-town community. He opposed chain stores and mail order firms as a threat to the business owner on Main Street. The [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] shook his faith in a cooperative, selfless, middle-class America.<ref>Edward Gale Agran, ''"Too Good a Town": William Allen White, Community, and the Emerging Rhetoric of Middle America'' (1998)</ref>

===Great depression===
The [[Dust Bowl]] was a series of [[dust storm]]s caused by a massive drought that began in 1930 and lasted until 1941. The effect of the drought was overshadowed by the plunging wheat prices and the financial crisis of the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]]. Many local banks were forced to close. Some farmers left the land but even larger numbers of unemployed men left the cities to return to their family's farm.<ref>Timothy Eagan, ''The Worst Hard Tim: the Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl'' (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)</ref><ref>Craig Miner, ''Next Year Country: Dust to Dust in Western Kansas, 1890-1940'' (2007)</ref>

The state became an eager participant in such major [[New Deal]] relief programs as the [[Civil Works Administration]], the [[Federal Emergency Relief Administration]], the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]], the [[Works Progress Administration]], which put hundreds of thousands of Kansans—mostly men—to work at unskilled labor. Most important of all were the New Deal farm programs, which raised prices of wheat and other crops and allowed economic recovery by 1936.<ref>Peter Fearon, "Kansas History and the New Deal Era," ''Kansas History,'' Autumn 2007, Vol. 30 Issue 3, pp 192-223</ref> Republican Governor [[Alf Landon]] also employed emergency measures, including a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures and a balanced budget initiative.<ref>Donald R. McCoy, ''Landon of Kansas'' (1966)</ref> The [[Agricultural Adjustment Administration]] succeeded in raising wheat prices after 1933, thus alleviating the most serious distress.<ref>Peter Fearon, "Regulation and Response: Kansas Wheat Farmers and the New Deal," ''Rural History,'' Oct 2007, Vol. 18 Issue 2, pp. 245–264</ref>

===World War II===
[[File:Boeing-Whichata B-29 Assembly Line - 1944.jpg|thumb|right|[[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]] production in Wichita in 1944]]
The state's main contribution to the war effort, besides tens of thousands of servicemen and servicewomen, was the enormous increase in the output of grain production.<ref>Patrick G. O'Brien, "Kansas At War: The Home Front, 1941-1945," ''Kansas History,'' March 1994, Vol. 17 Issue 1, pp 6-25
</ref> Farmers nevertheless grumbled about price ceilings for their wheat, production quotas, the movement of hired hands to well-paid factory jobs, and the shortage of farm machinery; they lobbied the Congress to make sure that young farmers were deferred from the draft.<ref>Michael J. Grant, "'Food Will Win the War and Write the Peace': The Federal Government and Kansas Farmers during World War II," ''Kansas History,'' Dec 1997, Vol. 20 Issue 4, pp. 242–257</ref>

Wichita, which had long shown an interest in aviation, became a major manufacturing center for the aircraft industry during the war, attracting tens of thousands of underemployed workers from the farms and small towns of the state.<ref>Peter Fearon, "Ploughshares into Airplanes: Manufacturing Industry and Workers in Kansas During World War II," ''Kansas History,'' Dec 1999, Vol. 22 Issue 4, pp. 298–314</ref>

The Women's Land Army of America (WLA) was a wartime women's labor pool organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It failed to attract many town or city women to do farm work, but it succeeded in training several hundred farm wives in machine handling, safety, proper clothing, time-saving methods, and nutrition.<ref>Caron Smith, "The Women's Land Army During World War II," ''Kansas History,'' June 1991, Vol. 14 Issue 2, pp. 82–88</ref>

===Cold War era===
Kansas state law permitted segregated public schools, which operated in Topeka and other cities.<ref>Beatty, Robert and M. A. Peterson. "Covert Discrimination: Topeka-Before and After Brown." ''Kansas History'' 27 (Autumn 2004): 146–163. [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/2004autumn_beatty.pdf online]</ref> On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' unanimously declared that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws." ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'' explicitly outlawed ''[[de jure]]'' [[racial segregation]] of public education facilities (legal establishment of separate government-run schools for blacks and whites). The site consists of the Monroe Elementary School, one of the four segregated elementary schools for African American children in Topeka, Kansas (and the adjacent grounds).<ref>James T.Paterson, ''Brown V. Board of Education, A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy'' (2002)</ref>

During the 1950s and 1960s, [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s (designed to carry a single nuclear warhead) were stationed throughout Kansas facilities. They were stored (to be launched from) hardened underground silos. The Kansas facilities were deactivated in the early 1980s.

On June 8, 1966, [[Topeka, Kansas]] was struck by an ''F5'' rated [[tornado]], according to the [[Fujita scale]]. The "[[1966 Topeka tornado]]" started on the southwest side of town, moving northeast, hitting various landmarks (including [[Washburn University]]). Total dollar cost was put at $100 million.

===Recent personalities===
Kansas was home to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]] of Abilene, presidential candidates [[Bob Dole]] and [[Alf Landon]], and the aviator [[Amelia Earhart]]. Famous athletes from Kansas include [[Barry Sanders]], [[Gale Sayers]], [[Jim Ryun]], [[Walter Johnson]], [[Clint Bowyer]], [[Maurice Greene (athlete)|Maurice Greene]], and [[Lynette Woodard]].

==Sports==
The [[Kansas Sports Hall of Fame]] chronicles the history of competitive athletics in the state.

===College sports===
:''See also [[Timeline of college football in Kansas]]''
Kansas sports history includes several significant firsts. The first [[college football]] game played in Kansas was the [[1890 Kansas vs. Baker football game]] played in [[Baldwin City, Kansas|Baldwin City]]. Baker won 22–9.<ref name="kshs">{{cite web|url=http://www.kshs.org/p/kansas-historical-quarterly-college-football-in-kansas/12834|publisher=Kansas Historical Quarterly|title=College Football in Kansas|first=Harold|last=Evans|date=August 1940|pages=285–311|access-date=September 11, 2012}}</ref> The first [[Night game|night football game]] west of the Mississippi was played in [[Wichita, Kansas]] in [[1905 Cooper vs. Fairmount football game|1905]] between Cooper College (now called [[Sterling Warriors|Sterling College]]) and Fairmount College (now [[Wichita State Shockers|Wichita State University]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanCom/tales_firstlight.asp|title=Coleman - Outdoor Gear for Camping, Hiking and Tailgating / US|work=coleman.com|access-date=2012-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202064052/http://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanCom/tales_firstlight.asp|archive-date=2012-02-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> Later that year, Fairmount also played an [[1905 Washburn vs. Fairmount football game|experimental game]] against the [[Washburn Ichabods]] that was used to test new rules designed to make football safer.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/349469012.html?dids=349469012:349469012&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+26%2C+1905&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=NEW+FOOTBALL+RULES+TESTED.&pqatl=google|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|title=New Football Rules Tested|date=December 26, 1905|access-date=July 6, 2017|archive-date=March 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130316074650/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/349469012.html?dids=349469012:349469012&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Dec+26%2C+1905&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=NEW+FOOTBALL+RULES+TESTED.&pqatl=google|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1911, the [[Kansas Jayhawks football|Kansas Jayhawks]] traveled to play the [[Missouri Tigers football|Missouri Tigers]] for what is considered the [[1911 Kansas vs. Missouri football game|first homecoming game]] ever.<ref>{{cite news|author=Eric J Eckert|url=http://www.yorknewstimes.com/articles/2011/09/23/editorials/doc4e7c08259fabd268415990.txt |title=> Archives > Editorials > Vincent's Views |newspaper=[[York News-Times]] |date=2011-09-23 |access-date=2011-12-05}}</ref> The first college football [[homecoming]] [[1939 Nebraska vs. Kansas State football game|game]] ever televised was played in [[Manhattan, Kansas|Manhattan]] between the [[Kansas State Wildcats football|Kansas State Wildcats]] and the [[Nebraska Cornhuskers football|Nebraska Cornhuskers]].<ref>{{Cite news | title = Televised Game | newspaper = Morning Chronicle | location = Manhattan, Kansas | date = October 28, 1939}}</ref><ref name=ksu-neb>{{cite web|url=http://www.kstatesports.com/blog/2010/10/purple-pride-vs-big-red---4-0-vs-4-0.html |publisher=[[Kansas State Wildcats]] |title=Purple Pride vs. Big Red - 4-0 vs. 4-0 |date=October 7, 2010 |first=Mark |last=Janssen |access-date=February 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110215224819/http://www.kstatesports.com/blog/2010/10/purple-pride-vs-big-red---4-0-vs-4-0.html |archive-date=15 February 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The 1951 season saw the [[Southwestern Moundbuilders|Southwestern]] head coach [[Harold Hunt (coach)|Harold Hunt]] gain national recognition for rejecting a touchdown in a [[1951 Central Missouri State vs. Southwestern football game|game against Central Missouri]]. Hunt informed the officials that his player had stepped out of bounds, nullifying long touchdown run. Not a single one of the referees had been in a position to see him do so, but they agreed to nullify the touchdown, and returned the ball to the point where Coach Hunt said Johnson had stepped out. A photo of the run later confirmed Coach Hunt's observation.<ref>[http://opentheword.org/content/view/377/32/ www.opentheword.org - Man of the Year<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220221539/http://opentheword.org/content/view/377/32/ |date=2007-12-20 }}</ref>

On October 2, 1970, a [[Wichita State University football team plane crash|plane crashed]] that was carrying about half of the football team for [[Wichita State Shockers football|Wichita State]] on their way to play a game against [[Utah State University]]. 31 people were killed.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DY4sAAAAIBAJ&dq=wichita%20state%20drops%20football&pg=6621%2C6379871|title=Four Years Ago...|last=Zier|first=Patrick|date=November 20, 1974|newspaper=Lakeland Ledger|pages=Page 1B & 4B|access-date=8 July 2012}}</ref> The game was canceled, and the Utah State football team held a memorial service at the stadium where the game was to have been played.<ref name="mem70-main">{{cite web|url=http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=memorial&p=%2Findex%2F|title=MEMORIAL '70 - Memorial '70 Home - Wichita State University|website=webs.wichita.edu|access-date=2015-01-28|archive-date=2015-01-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129081956/http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=memorial&p=%2Findex%2F|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Professional sports===
The history of professional sports in Kansas probably{{Vague|date=October 2023}} dates from the establishment of the [[Minor League Baseball]] Topeka Capitals and [[Leavenworth Soldiers]] in 1886 in the [[Western League (1885–1899)|Western League]].<ref name=Evans>{{cite journal | last = Evans | first = Harold | title = Baseball in Kansas, 1867–1940 | journal=Kansas Historical Quarterly | year = 1940 | url = http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1940/40_2_evans.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20031019095201/http://kancoll.org/khq/1940/40_2_evans.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2003-10-19 | access-date = 2008-02-18}}</ref><ref name=Madden>{{cite book | last1 = Madden | first1 = W.C. | last2 = Stewart | first2 = Patrick | title = The Western League: A Baseball History, 1885 through 1999 | year = 2002 | publisher = McFarland | isbn = 0-7864-1003-5}}
</ref> The African-American [[Bud Fowler]] played on the Topeka team that season, one year before the "[[Baseball color line|color line]]" descended in professional baseball.<ref name=Madden/>

In 1887, the Western League was dominated by a reorganized Topeka team called the [[Topeka Golden Giants (1887)|Golden Giants]] – a high-priced collection of major leaguer players, including [[Bug Holliday]], [[Jim Conway (baseball)|Jim Conway]], [[Dan Stearns]], [[Perry Werden]] and [[Jimmy Macullar]], which won the league by 15½ games.<ref name=Madden/>  On April 10, 1887, the Golden Giants also won an exhibition game from the defending [[1886 World Series|World Series]] champions, the [[St. Louis Cardinals|St. Louis Browns]] (the present-day Cardinals), by a score of 12–9. However, Topeka was unable to support the team, and it disbanded after one year.

The first [[night game]] in the history of professional baseball was played in Independence on April 28, 1930, when the Muscogee (Oklahoma) Indians beat the [[Independence Producers]] 13 to 3 in a minor league game sanctioned by the Western League of the Western Baseball Association with 1,500 fans attending the game. The permanent lighting system was first used for an exhibition game on April 17, 1930, between the Independence Producers and House of David semi-professional baseball team of Benton Harbor, Michigan with the Independence team winning with a score of 9 to 1 before a crowd of 1,700 spectators.<ref>Bowman, Larry G. "I Think It Is Pretty Ritzy Myself: Kansas Minor League Teams and Night Baseball". Kansas History, Winter 1995/1996, pp. 248–257. Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 25 May 2013.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|History|North America|United States|Kansas}}
{{Main|Historical outline of Kansas}}
* [[Geology of Kansas]]
* [[History of the Midwestern United States]]
* [[Germans from Russia]], Many of whom lived in Kansas
* [[Great Plains]]
* [[List of historical societies in the United States#Kansas|List of historical societies in Kansas]]
* [[Railroad land grants in the United States]]
* [[Timeline of Kansas history]]
* ''[[Tragic Prelude]]''

;Cities in Kansas
* [[Timeline of Topeka, Kansas]]
* [[History of Wichita, Kansas]] and [[Timeline of Wichita, Kansas|Timeline]]
{{Clear}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
{{See also |Chisholm Trail#Further reading|l1=Chisholm Trail |Oregon Trail#Further reading|l2=Oregon Trail |Santa Fe Trail#Further reading|l3=Santa Fe Trail}}

===Surveys and reference===
* [[Anna Estelle Arnold|Arnold, Anna Estelle]]. [https://archive.org/details/historyofkansas00arno ''A history of Kansas''] (1914) old textbook
* {{cite book|author1-last=Blackmar|author1-first=Frank Wilson|title=Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc.|year=1912|publisher=Standard Publishing|location=Chicago}} {{Internet Archive|name=volume 1|id=kansascyclopedia01blac}}  {{Internet Archive|name=volume 2|id=kansascyclopedia02blac}} old alphabetical encyclopedia
* Cutler, William G. [https://web.archive.org/web/20021216224228/http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/ History of the State of Kansas] (1883), detailed, reliable older history
* Davis, Kenneth. ''Kansas: A History'' (1984)
* Dean, Virgil W., ed. ''John Brown to Bob Dole: Movers and Shakers in Kansas History'' (2010), 27 short biographies by scholars
* Gille, Frank H. ed. ''Encyclopedia of Kansas Indians Tribes, Nations and People of the Plains'' (1999)
*  Hazelrigg, Clara H. ''A New History of Kansas'' (1895) [https://archive.org/details/fl-2194048-tn-2221134/mode/1up online]
* Miner, Craig. ''Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State, 1854–2000'' (2002) ({{ISBN|0-7006-1215-7}}), the newest standard history
* Napier, Rita, ed. ''Kansas and the West: New Perspectives'' (University Press of Kansas, 2003), 416pp; essays by scholars
* Rich, Everett, ed. ''The Heritage of Kansas: Selected Commentaries on Past Times'' (1960) 852pp; essays by historians and primary sources [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=14949413 online]
* Richmond, Robert. ''Kansas, A Land of Contrasts'' (4th ed. 1999)
* Socolofsky, Homer E. ''Kansas Governors'' (1990)
* Socolofsky, Homer E. and Huber Self.  ''Historical Atlas of Kansas''  (1992)
* Stuewe, Paul K., ed. ''Kansas Revisited: Historical Images and Perspectives'' (2nd ed. 1998), essays by scholars
* Wishart, David J., ed. ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'', University of Nebraska Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0-8032-4787-7}}. [http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/ complete text online]; 900 pages of scholarly articles
* Zornow, William, ''Kansas, A History of the Jayhawk State'' (1957)

===Specialized studies===
* Bader, Robert S. ''Hayseeds, Moralizers, and Methodists: The Twentieth-Century Image of Kansas '' (University Press of Kansas, 1988)
*Campney, Brent M. S. "'This is Not Dixie:' The Imagined South, The Kansas Free State Narrative, and the Rhetoric of Racist Violence" ''Southern Spaces'' 6 September 2007 [http://southernspaces.org/2007/not-dixie-imagined-south-kansas-free-state-narrative-and-rhetoric-racist-violence online]
* Carman, J. Neale. ''Foreign-Language Units of Kansas, I. Historical Atlas and Statistics'' (1962) detailed introduction to foreign settlement, with immigration statistics and detailed maps showing ethnic clusters.
* Castel, Albert. ''A Frontier State at War: Kansas, 1861–1865'' (1958)
* Cordier, Mary Hurlbut. ''Schoolwomen of the Prairies and Plains: Personal Narratives from Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, 1860S-1920s'' (1997) [https://archive.org/details/schoolwomenofpra00cord online]
* Dick, Everett. ''Vanguards of the Frontier: A Social History of the Northern Plains and Rocky Mountains from the Earliest White Contacts to the Coming of the Homemaker'' (1941)
* Entz, Gary R. "Religion in Kansas," ''Kansas History,'' Summer 2005, Vol. 28 Issue 2, pp 120–145, emphasis on the Civil War, Progressive Era, immigrants, and the civil rights movement
* Goldberg, Michael L. "Non-partisan and all-partisan: Rethinking woman suffrage and party politics in gilded age Kansas." ''Western Historical Quarterly'' 25.1 (1994): 21–44. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/971068 online]
* Goodrich, Thomas ''War to the Knife: Bleeding Kansas, 1854–1861'' (1998).
* Ham, George E. and Robin Higham, eds. ''The Rise of the Wheat State: A History of Kansas Agriculture, 1861- 1986'' (1987) 16 topical essays by experts. [https://archive.org/details/riseofwheatstate0000unse/page/n4/mode/1up online]
* Ise, John. ''Sod and Stubble: The Story of a Kansas Homestead'' (U of Nebraska Press, 1972)
* La Forte, Robert Sherman. ''Leaders of Reform: Progressive Republicans in Kansas, 1900-1916'' (1974) [https://archive.org/details/leadersofreformp0000lafo online]
* Lee, R. Alton. ''Sunflower Justice: A New History of the Kansas Supreme Court'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2014)
* Luebke, Frederick C., ed. ''Ethnicity on the Great Plains'' (1982)
* McQuillan, D. Aidan. ''Prevailing over Time: Ethnic Adjustment on the Kansas Prairies, 1875–1925'' (1990)
* Malin, James. ''Winter Wheat in the Golden Belt of Kansas'' (1944)
* Malin, James. ''The Grassland of North America: Prolegomena to its History'' (1955)  [https://web.archive.org/web/20021025070830/http://www.kancoll.org/books/malin/index.html excerpts], pioneering environmental history
* Malin, James. ''History and Ecology: Studies of the Grassland'' (1984)
* Miner, Craig. ''West of Wichita: Settling the High Plains of Kansas, 1865-90'' (1986) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0700603646/ excerpt and text search]
* Percy, Thomas C. ''Kansas State Fair'' (Arcadia, 2014) [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=7Ir_AwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA6&dq=%22Kansas+state+fair%22+history&ots=ILMQur86_Z&sig=Mi38OzFtuZ4-qPGQZcb1uNY17Ms online].
* Press, Donald E. "Kansas Conflict: Populist Versus Railroader in the 1890s," ''Kansas Historical Quarterly'' (1977) 43#3 pp 319–333 [https://web.archive.org/web/20021118023451/http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1977/77_3_dpress.htm online]
* Reynolds, David. ''John Brown, Abolitionist'' (2005) ({{ISBN|0-375-41188-7}}), favorable to Brown
* Sloan, Charles William Jr. "Kansas Battles the Invisible Empire: The Legal Ouster of the KKK From Kansas, 1922-1927," ''Kansas Historical Quarterly'' (1974) 40#3 pp 393–409 [https://web.archive.org/web/20031019130216/http://kancoll.org/khq/1974/74_3_sloan.htm online]
* Socolofsky, Homer E. "Kansas in 1876" ''Kansas Historical Quarterly'' (1977) 43#1 pp 1–43 [https://web.archive.org/web/20021118022801/http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1977/77_1_socolofsky.htm online]
* Socolofsky, Homer E. ''Arthur Capper, publisher, politician, and philanthropist'' (1962).
* Underwood, June O. "Civilizing Kansas: Women's Organizations, 1880–1920." ''Feminist Studies'' 2 (1975): 150–60. [http://images.kshs.org/publicat/history/1984winter_underwood.pdf online]
* Van Sant, Thomas D. ''Improving rural lives: A history of Farm Bureau in Kansas, 1912-1992'' (1993)
* Villard, Oswald Garrison, ''John Brown 1800–1859: A Biography Fifty Years After'' (1910). [https://archive.org/details/johnbrownabiogr02villgoog/page/n176 <!-- pg=148 quote="john brown" Pottawatomie. --> full text online]

===Historiography===
* Averill, Thomas Fox. "Kansas Literature. A Review Essay." ''Kansas History'' 25 (Summer 2002): 141–165. [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/2002summer_averill.pdf online]
* Becker, Carl L. "Kansas," in ''Essays in American History Dedicated to Frederick Jackson Turner'' (1910), 85–111, famous interpretation. [https://books.google.com/books?id=vhMOAAAAIAAJ online pp 85-111]; Reprinted in Everett Rich, ed., ''The Heritage of Kansas: Selected Commentaries on Past Times'' (1960), pp 340–59.
*Coburn, Carol K. "Women and Gender in Kansas History. Review Essay." ''Kansas History'' 26 (Summer 2003): 126–151. [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/2003summer_coburn.pdf online]
* Grant, H. Roger. "Kansas Transportation. Review Essay." ''Kansas History''  26 (Autumn 2003): 206–229. [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/2003autumn_grant.pdf online]
* Hurt, R. Douglas. "The Agricultural and Rural History of Kansas. Review Essay." ''Kansas History'' 27 (Autumn 2004): 194–217. [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/2004autumn_hurt.pdf online]
* Johannsen, Robert W.  "James C. Malin: An Appreciation," ''Kansas Historical Quarterly'' (1972) 38#4 pp.&nbsp;457–66 [https://web.archive.org/web/20021118022139/http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1972/72_4_malin.htm online]
* Leiker, James. "Race Relations in the Sunflower State. A Review Essay." ''Kansas History''  25 (Autumn 2002): 214–236. [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/2002autumn_leiker.pdf online]
* Malin, James C. ''Essays on historiography'' (1946) [http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b181150 online]
* Nichols, Roy F. "The Kansas-Nebraska Act: A Century of Historiography." ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 43 (September 1956): 187–212. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1902683 in JSTOR]
* {{cite journal
|title=The Early History of Kansas, 1854–1861
|first=F. B.
|last=Sanborn
|author-link=Franklin Benjamin Sanborn
|journal=[[Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society]]
|date=February 1908
|series=3rd
|volume=1, [Vol. 41 of continuous numbering]
|pages=331–359
|jstor=25079946
|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25079946}}
* Socolofsky, Homer E. and Virgil W. Dean. ''Kansas History: An Annotated Bibliography'' (1992) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0313282382/  excerpt and text search]
* Turk, Eleanor L. "Germans in Kansas. Review Essay." ''Kansas History'' 28 (Spring 2005): 44–71. [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/2005spring_turk.pdf online]

===Primary sources===
* Averill, Thomas Fox, ed., ''What Kansas Means to Me: Twentieth-Century Writers on the Sunflower State'' (University Press of Kansas, 1991)
* Cordier, Mary Hurlbut. ''Schoolwomen of the Prairies and Plains: Personal Narratives from Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska, 1860S-1920s'' (1997) [https://archive.org/details/schoolwomenofpra00cord online]
* Missouri Pacific Railway Company. ''Facts about Kansas: a book for home-seekers and home-builders. Statistics from state and national reports. Farm lands, grazing lands, fruit lands. The unsurpassed and limitless resources of the great corn and wheat producing state.'' (1891) [https://archive.org/details/factsaboutkansas00miss_0 online]
* [[Sara Tappan Doolittle Robinson|Robinson, Sara]]. ''Kansas, Its Interior and Exterior Life: Including a Full View of Its Settlement, Political History, Social Life, Climate, Soil, Productions, Scenery, Etc.'' (1856) [https://archive.org/details/kansasitsinterio03robi full text online]
**Courtwright, Julie. "'A Goblin That Drives Her Insane': Sara Robinson and the History Wars of Kansas, 1894–1911." ''Kansas History'' 25 (Summer 2002): 102–123. [http://kshs.org/publicat/history/2002summer_courtwright.pdf online]
* Stratton, Joanna. ''Pioneer Women: Voices from the Kansas Frontier'' (1982), autobiographical accounts [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0671447483/ excerpt and text search]
* White, William Allen. "What's the matter with Kansas?" (1896) [https://web.archive.org/web/20021231002906/http://www.kancoll.org/articles/what's_the_matter_with_kansas.html online]

==External links==
* [https://guides.loc.gov/kansas-state-guide Kansas State Resource Guide, from the Library of Congress]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101125112747/http://kshs.org/p/kansas-history-articles-online/12445 ''Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains''], scholarly journal, with many articles online
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010202224/http://www.kancoll.org/index.php "The Kansas Collection"] many primary sources, including books and articles about Kansas
* Rath, Ida Ellen [https://web.archive.org/web/20030105163347/http://kancoll.org/books/rath/ ''The Rath Trail'' (1961)] biography of Charles Rath
* ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20051027161456/http://www.kshs.org/resource/archeologyreadings/ArcheologicalHeritageofKansas.pdf The Archeological Heritage of Kansas]''
* [http://ksartifacts.info/  Kansas Archaeology Website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190829070441/http://ksartifacts.info/ |date=2019-08-29 }}
* [http://www.kshs.org/  Kansas Historical Society]
* [http://www.kansasmemory.org/ Access documents, photographs, and other primary sources on Kansas Memory, the Kansas State Historical Society's digital portal]

{{Kansas|expanded}}
{{U.S. political divisions histories}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Kansas}}
[[Category:History of Kansas| ]]
[[Category:History of the United States by state or territory|Kansas]]