Chapter 75: Two stolen election in Kansas end with a “bogus pro-slavery legislature.’

The Democrat’s promise of Popular Sovereignty elections to resolve slavery in Kansas falls apart on November 29, 1854 when so-called “Border Ruffians” forcefully take over the polling places and stuff the ballot boxes. This elects the first representative to the U.S. House, John Whitfield, a Mexican War vet who will later serve as a Brigadier General in the Confederate army.

Andrew Reeder, Pierce’s choice as Territorial Governor, is aware of the fraud, but decides to overlook it for the moment.

But then it happens again on March 30, 1855 where a “Bogus Legislature” favoring slavery receives some 5427 votes, over double the total number of actual residents.