Law & Order Party

The Law & Order Party was organized at a meeting in Leavenworth on October 3, 1855. A Free-State Party had been formed at a meeting at Big Spring in August and a convention in Topeka in September. The pro-slavery members of the Law & Order Party felt it necessary to counter a growing free-state opposition to the measures passed by the Bogus Legislature and to appeal to southerners across the nation to come to their aid. One of the resolutions of the Law & Order meeting expressed their attitude toward free-state opposition:

"Resolved, That we hold the doctrine to be strictly true, that no man or set of men are at liberty to resist a law passed by a legislative body, legally organized, unless they choose by their actions to constitute themselves rebels and traitors, and take all the consequences that legitimately follow the failure of a revolution." [Cutler, History, Part 23]

Eleven members of the Bogus Legislature took part in the Law & Order Party. Those who did were at the core of the pro-slavery movement.

Wilson Shannon (1802-1877)

Governor of the Territory and President of the Law & Order Convention. An Ohioan from a Virginia family, he favored the pro-slavery side.

Members on the Committee calling the Convention
W.G. Mathias Richard Rees D.A.N. Grover

Members who were officers at the Convention
Andrew McDonald, Vice President William Barbee, Vice President W.P. Richardson, Vice President
John Stringfellow, Secretary Lucien Eastin, Secretary S.A. Williams, Secretary

Members on the Committee on Resolutions
John Stringfellow Lucien Eastin W.G. Mathias
S.A. Williams Archibald Payne W.P. Richardson

Member writing a Letter of Appeal to Southerners
Joseph C. Anderson


Charles Clark