English Bill (1858)

{{Short description|Proposed American land deal}} {{about|the law proposed by William Hayden English|other uses|English Law (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=June 2025}} {{context|date=February 2015}}

The '''English Bill''' was drafted on April 23, 1858, it was an offer made by the [[United States Congress]] to [[Kansas Territory]]. Kansas was offered some millions of acres of [[public land]]s in exchange for accepting the [[Lecompton Constitution]].<ref name=EB1911>{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Kansas |volume=15 |page=659}}</ref>

The English Bill was introduced by [[William Hayden English]] (1822–1896), a [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[United States House of Representatives|representative]] in Congress from 1853 to 1861.<ref name=EB1911/> The bill itself was not a [[bribe]] to the degree that it is usually considered to be, as it reduced the grant of land demanded by the [[Lecompton Ordinance]] from {{convert|23,500,000|to|3,500,000|acre|km2}}, and offered only the normal cession to new states.<ref name=EB1911/> This grant, however, was conditioned on the acceptance of the Lecompton Constitution, and Congress made no promise of any grant if that Constitution were not adopted.<ref name=EB1911/>

On August 21, 1858, by a vote of 11,812 to 1,926, Kansans rejected the offer.<ref>{{cite book|last=Freehling|first=William|title=The Road to Disunion: Volume II|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|pages=142}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:United States proposed federal legislation]] [[Category:1858 in Kansas Territory]] [[Category:Bleeding Kansas]]