John P. Slough
Politician. Born: 1829, Cincinnati, Ohio. Married: Arbella, 1853. Died: December 16, 1867, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
"Among the leading men of the convention," according to B. F. Simpson, was John P. Slough, who had been born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1829. He married Arbella ________ about 1853 in Ohio, where they resided and started a family before moving to Kansas in 1857. The Sloughs settled in Leavenworth. He opened a legal practice and in July 1857 received a commission as notary public for the county. Slough was elected one of Leavenworth County's ten delegates to the Wyandotte Convention in July 1859 and took an active role in its debates and deliberations-from the outset, Slough and fellow Leavenworth Democratic delegate S. A. Stinson, vigorously represented the minority. In the fall of 1861, Colonel Slough took command of the newly organized First Regiment, Colorado Volunteers, with Samuel F. Tappan as his lieutenant colonel and Rev. John M. Chivington the regiment's major. Slough led a part of the regiment south into New Mexico in March 1862, where, according to Simpson, he "fought gallantly," but nevertheless resigned his command in April. Slough remained in New Mexico where he became "supreme justice" and subsequently was "killed in an affray with an army officer" in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on December 16, 1867.
Slough took the floor on July 7 to present the minority report from the Committee on Credentials, which favored seating delegates from Wyandotte, Morris, and Chase counties. According to Slough, the inhabitants of these counties were not properly represented at the convention, despite the provisions of "the law under which the Convention assumes to convene," and had actually been "disfranchised" by the territorial legislature. Slough argued that the convention itself could and should correct this injustice: "This body, sir, is responsible, not to the Legislature, but to the people. This Convention is omnipotent-so to speak-the highest political power restricted only by the Constitution of the United States." Ultimately, Slough and his allies lost the day on this issue, as they would on the question of prohibiting "the future settlement in Kansas of free negroes."
Entry: Slough, John P.
Author: Kansas Historical Society
Author information: The Kansas Historical Society is a state agency charged with actively safeguarding and sharing the state's history.
Date Created: June 2011
Date Modified: January 2013
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