A DELEGATE GOES FROM BROWN COUNTY, KANSAS,

TO AN 1860 POLITICAL CONVENTION

Transcribed by
Ernst F. Tonsing V
Thousand Oaks, California
July 25, 2001

[The following article reveals the difficulty in obtaining a delegate to the Kansas
Territorial Republican convention in 1860. The story was in a clipping found in the
Brown County World, in the Kansas State Historical Society archives in Topeka, Kansas.'
Brown county is north of Atchison and west of Doniphan counties in the northeast border
of Kansas. William H. Seward sought to obtain the Republican nomination against
Abraham Lincoln in 1860, and was favored over the latter by John A. Martin, influential
editor of the Atchison Freedom's Champion, and others. According to Daniel Wilder,
the convention at which the territory's delegates to the national gathering were chosen
occurred in Lawrence on April ll. 2 Seward was chosen by the Kansas delegates with but
one or two dissenting. The national convention meeting in Chicago May 16-18, however,
nominated Lincoln for President and Hannibal Hamlin for Vice President.3 The numbers
within brackets give the page number of the article within the series of clippings]

[p. 29] "A national Republican convention was to be held in the summer of 1860
to nominate candidates for President and Vice President. The friends of Mr. Seward, in
the territory, recognizing his able service in behalf of freedom, determined that a delegate
should be sent that would support him. A. C. Wilder the chairman of the Central
Committee and a warm supporter of Mr. Seward, wrote a letter to a friend in Brown
county, urging that a delegate be sent to the Territorial convention. A county convention
was held, but no one could be found able and willing to go. Those who could spare the
time had no horses; those who had horses had no money to pay expenses. After fully
discussing the matter, it was gravely proposed that a contribution be taken up to defray
the expenses of the delegate. This was actually done, some giving twenty-five cents,
some a dime, others less, until four dollars and fifty [p. 30] cents in legal tender was
raised. It was calculated that by close accounting this amount would defray the expenses
absolutely necessary. Armed with the necessary credentials and a letter to Mr. Wilder
commending the gentleman from Brown county to his hospitality, the delegate attended
the convention. It was reported at the time that the closing paragraph of the letter
informed Mr. Wilder that 'Dr. takes his whisky straight.' It is needless to add that the
delegate has since been twice honored by an election as County Treasurer, and that the
author of the letter has since filled most creditably a state office."

1
Brown County World scrapbook, March 2, 1894, pp. 29-30, located in the Kansas State Historical Society
archives.
2
Daniel Wilder, Annals of Kansas 1541-1885, New Edition (Topeka, Kansas: T. Dwight Thacher, Kansas
Publishing House, 1886), pp. 298-9.
3
Ibid, p. 301.