Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas, sometimes referred to in the history of Kansas as Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a sequence of violent events involving abolitionists and pro-Slavery elements that took place in Kansas-Nebraska Territory between roughly 1854 and 1856.

Related Topics:
History of Kansas - Kansas-Nebraska Territory

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The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territory and provided the cause of the ensuing warfare. Enshrined in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which nullified the Missouri Compromise is the principle now known as "popular sovereignty", an idea heavily supported by Senator Stephen A. Douglas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories and greatly contested by abolitionists. Popular sovereignty was an attempt to offer concessions to the southern States through making possible the expansion of slavery into both western and northern territories.

Related Topics:
Kansas-Nebraska Act - Missouri Compromise - Stephen A. Douglas - Senate - States

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The Act established that the question of the expansion of slavery in the new States of Kansas and Nebraska would be decided by the inhabitants of the states. This resulted in organized immigration to Kansas from the northern States to prevent the expansion of slavery, and from southern States, most notably Missouri, to secure the expansion of slavery. The ensuing violence became known as "Bleeding Kansas". The Wakarusa War, the sacking of Lawrence, and the Pottawatomie Murders were examples of some of the violence. There was also a War South of the Kaw, a Battle of Franklin, a siege of Fort Titus, and a Battle of Osawatomie.

Related Topics:
States - Kansas - Nebraska - Missouri - Wakarusa War - Sacking of Lawrence - Pottawatomie Murders - War South of the Kaw - Siege - Fort Titus - Battle of Osawatomie

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There were a total of 157 violent deaths during this period. Historians believe that only 56 of these deaths were connected to the issue of slavery or politics, while the other 101 deaths were drunken brawls or personal issues. John Brown and Silas Soule were among the abolitionists active in Kansas during the period. It has been argued by some historians that the violence during this period was the true beginning of the American Civil War.

Related Topics:
John Brown - Silas Soule - American Civil War

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