jan 1, 1862 - Abelard Guthrie Elected to Congress

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In 1862 with the support of Governor Walker, Abelard Guthrie was unanimously elected as delegate from Kansas to represent the territory in Congress. Guthrie was initially threatened for arrest by rivals in Leavenworth, Kansas for attempting to start a revolution. There was a second call for election in 1862 by opposition groups in Leavenworth and Atchison. Once again Guthrie won the vote although the regional military was strongly opposed to his election. Guthrie was not seated or recognized in Washington D.C. but he got Willard Hall of Missouri to introduce his bill in 1862 for a new Free Platte Territory. This challenge to slavery in the area was introduced as a bill written by Guthrie to Congress and supported by the Wyandot Tribe. The bill had been outlined in the New York Herald Tribune. Writers for the Tribune highly touted Guthrie saying he should be honored for his attempt to organize the Kansas-Nebraska territory as free territory with an eye on becoming a Free State. After the Civil War a journalist wrote in the New York Herald Tribune that Guthrie had forced the hand of slave power in Washington D.C., which led to the area being an early forerunner of the Civil War, the formation of the Republican Party and the eventual defeat of slavery. Perhaps that is giving Guthrie too much credit but it is an interesting thesis. Today it seems reasonable to think a statue should be erected of Nancy Quindaro Brown and Abelard Guthrie as founders of the Quindaro Townsite.

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