Only seven responded, however, and in these cases new elections were held and contesting delegates elected.
The Governor issued certificates to these and to all those who in other precincts had been chosen by the horde from Missouri.

When the Legislature met in July, the seven contests were decided in favor of the pro-slavery party, the single freestate member resigned, and the assembly was unanimous.
Governor Reeder fully expected that President Pierce would nullify the election, and to this end he made a journey to Washington in April.
On the way he delivered a public address at Easton, Pennsylvania, describing in lurid colors the outrage which had been perpetrated upon the people of Kansas by the "border ruffians" from Missouri, and asserting that the accounts in the Northern press had not been exaggerated.
While Governor Reeder in contact with the actual events in Kansas was becoming an active Free-Boiler, President Pierce in association with Jefferson Davis and others of his party was developing active sympathies with the people of western Missouri.

To the President this invasion of territory west of the slave State by Northern men aided by Northern corporations seemed a violation of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and he sought to induce Reeder to resign.

This, however, the Governor positively refused to do unless the President would formally approve his conduct in Kansas--an endorsement which required more fortitude than President Pierce possessed.

On his return to Kansas, determined to do what he could to protect the Kansas people from injustice, he called the Legislature to meet at Pawnee, a point far removed from the Missouri border.