"Kansas Investigation" Minority Report of the Kansas Investigating Committee

The Kansas Investigating committee consisted of three members. Two of them prepared a Majority Report, without any input from Mr. Oliver, the third member. That majority report was released and made available to the press, which made Mr. Oliver quite unhappy since he believed the majority report was flawed, misrepresented facts, and in general was completely biased and prejudicial. He therefore prepared this minority report, "Kansas Investigation" -- Minority Report of the Kansas Investigating Committee of The House of Representatives by Hon. M. Oliver, of Missouri, July 11, 1856 to refute the findings of the majority. Mr. Oliver writes "The undersigned, member of the committee of three appointed by the House of Representative to investigate the state of affairs in Kansas, disagreeing with the views and conclusions of his two colleagues, in the written statements submitted by them touching the result of their investigations, begs leave, under the permission of the House, to present a counter-statement...The paper in the nature of a report, drawn up by the colleagues of the undersigned on the committee, were not read to or by him, and he knew nothing of its content or character until it was presented to the House...It must have been apparent to all, that the report of the majority was not only ex parte and one-sided, but highly partisan in its character beginning to end. This appears all through the paper, in the manner of their statements of all things referred to by them, as facts, many of which statements of facts thus made rest upon no evidence whatever collected by the committee...". Mr. Oliver then goes on to present his views on the results of the committees work.

This First Edition copy of the Minority Report, printed in 1856 by The Union Office in Washington, is a 29 page booklet, without covers, that measures approximately 5 ½ x 9 inches. The Minority Report proceeds from page 3 to page 29, followed by an end paper. The pages are slightly tanned, with some staining on the title page. The title page and end paper are semi-detached. The text is clear and easily read. The overall condition of the item is good.

The illustrations accompanying this description show the title page and the first page of text.

Mordecai Oliver (October 22, 1819 – April 25, 1898) was an attorney and two-term U.S. Representative from Missouri. Oliver was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-third Congress and reelected as an Opposition Party candidate to the Thirty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1853–March 3, 1857). [Wikipedia]