This Day In Founding Fathers History – 29 January 2013

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This Day In Founding Fathers History – 29 January 2013

On this day in 1861, Kansas became the 34^th state to join the Union. Four constitutional conventions were held in the Kansas Territory before one was accepted, the Wyandotte constitution, in July 1859. In February 1860, a bill for admission of Kansas was introduced in the House. For the next year, the bill sat in Congress and was both vigorously promoted and opposed, with multiple postponements, amendments, and debates. Five states seceded from the Union and on 21 January 1860, ten senators “filed a protest against the action of the members of Congress from the northern states and withdrew from the senate.” The bill was then in special order in the Senate and it was soon passed by a vote of 36 to 16, with President Buchanan signing the bill on this day in 1861. ₁

One notable birthday on this day in history in 1761, that of Albert Gallatin. Gallatin was born in Switzerland and immigrated to United States in 1780. He served in the Revolutionary Army and as a member of the Pennsylvania constitutional convention. Gallatin was elected to the U.S. Senate and took his oath of office in 1793; however a petition was filed alleging he did not satisfy the constitutional citizenship requirement and the election was voided, although he did serve in the House of Representatives for three terms. He later was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Jefferson and reappointed by President Madison, serving for nearly 13 years, the longest term of any treasury secretary. In 1805, Meriwether Lewis named the easternmost of the three headwaters of the Missouri River after Gallatin. Gallatin was appointed a commissioner to negotiate the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 and he helped negotiate a commercial convention with Great Britain in 1816. He was appointed United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to France and later Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain. After Gallatin had retired from politics, he founded New York University and served as the president of the National Bank of New York. ₂

_{1 “Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history…, Volume I,” skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1912/a/admisttion_to_statehood.html
2 “Gallatin, Albert,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, bioguide.congress.gov; “Albert Gallatin,” Wikipedia}