Lincoln Visits Kansas

Wednesday, November 30, 1859 to Wednesday, December 7, 1859

The Planters Hotel in Leavenworth, Kansas, where Abraham Lincoln gave a speech denouncing slavery and popular sovereignty. Courtesy of the Kansas Historical Society.

  • View our map of his visit. 

Former U.S. Congressman Abraham Lincoln, a politician best known for challenging Stephen A. Douglas for an Illinois U.S. Senate seat, visits Kansas and denounces the "popular sovereignty" law that created the "Bleeding Kansas" controversy. He travels through St. Joseph, Missouri crosses the Missouri River into Kansas, and then makes a speech in Elwood at the Great Western Hotel before moving on to Troy, Doniphan, Atchison, and Leavenworth. In seeking the Republican nomination for president the next year, Lincoln still fails to garner the support of the Kansas delegation. Other political figures, especially William H. Seward, remain more popular than Lincoln.