Editing Lawrence, Kansas (section)

===Anti-slavery capital===
In both 1855 and 1857, Lawrence received a [[Municipal charter|charter]] from the proslavery government in Lecompton, but the citizens, being adamant in their opposition to the "Bogus Legislature", refused to accept it, as it would have organized Lawrence under proslavery laws.<ref name=eb1911>{{harvp|Chisholm|1911|pp=308–309}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Introduction |url=https://assets.lawrenceks.org/assets/hr/docs/employee_handbook/2015/1_Welcome_Mission_Intro/c_handbook_introduction.pdf |publisher=City of Lawrence |access-date=June 9, 2018 |date=December 2015 |archive-date=June 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143126/https://assets.lawrenceks.org/assets/hr/docs/employee_handbook/2015/1_Welcome_Mission_Intro/c_handbook_introduction.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In July 1857, the citizens of Lawrence then attempted to secure an "official" city charter from the [[wiktionary:extralegal|extralegal]] Free-State legislature before issuing one themselves.<ref name=eb1911/><ref name=martiallaw/> This act was seen as one of bold-faced insurrection by the newly-installed territorial governor [[Robert J. Walker]]; as a result, on July 15, 1857 Walker ordered [[William S. Harney]] to send a regiment of soldiers to watch over the city and impose [[martial law]]. These troops remained in the vicinity of Lawrence until the territorial elections in October of that year.<ref name=martiallaw>{{cite web|title=Governor Walker Declares Lawrence in Rebellion|url=http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/timeline/governor-walker-declares-lawrence-rebellion|website=Civil War on the Western Border|publisher=[[Kansas City Public Library]]|access-date=May 24, 2018|date=April 22, 2013}}</ref><ref>[[United States Congress]] (1922), p. 71.</ref> By this time, it seemed as if the struggles of Lawrence's early citizens were coming to fruition. In the election of 1857, free-staters gained the upper hand and were able to oust the proslavery majority from the territorial legislature.<ref>{{cite web|title=Free-Staters Win Election|url=http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/timeline/free-staters-win-election|website=Civil War on the Western Border|publisher=[[Kansas City Public Library]]|access-date=May 24, 2018|date=April 22, 2013}}</ref> By the start of the next year, Samuel Jones{{em dash}}long the enemy of Lawrence's free state population{{em dash}}resigned his post as sheriff and left the territory.<ref>Adams (1896), p. 276.</ref><ref name=tko>{{cite web|url=http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/%7Eimlskto/cgi-bin/index.php?SCREEN=bio_sketches/jones_sheriff|website=Territorial Kansas Online|access-date=May 2, 2018|title=Samuel J. Jones (Sheriff), ca.1820-ca.1880|date=n.d.}}</ref> On January 16, 1858, Lawrence was declared the [[county seat|seat]] of Douglas County (an honor that previously belonged to Lecompton),<ref>Kansas Territory Legislature (1858), pp. 218{{en dash}}19.</ref><ref>Andreas (1883), p. 310.</ref> and in February, the legislature approved the city charter that had been drafted a little less than a year prior in July. James Blood was then elected the first mayor of the city.<ref name=eb1911/><ref name="Andreas 1883, p. 326">Andreas (1883), p. 326.</ref> Around this time, the antislavery legislature often met in Lawrence, which functioned as the ''de facto'' capital of Kansas Territory from 1858 until 1861 (although Lecompton was still the ''de jure'' seat of the governing body).<ref name=eb1911/>