This powerpoint was used with the quiz “Quiz on BLEEDING KANSAS!” Then, the students wrote postcards to Missouri Congressman William Whareton in Washington D.C. – and then the responses went to Mr./Mrs._______________ in Peabody, Missouri.

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THE COMPROMISE OF 1850The “Bleeding Kansas” saga started with the Compromise of 1850, in which several laws Henry Clay designed attempted to solve the problems of slavery in the territories following the Mexican-American War. Because of this compromise, there would be a balance between the slave states in the South and the free states in the North. In addition, California would be admitted into the Union as a free state. Lands west of the Rio Grande and in the New Mexico Territory would not have any slave provisions against them, thus instituting “popular sovereignty,” in which area residents would vote on the issue of slavery. Also, the slave trade was banned in the District of Columbia and a stricter Fugitive Slave Law was passed that required all American citizens to help to return runaway slaves to their masters. Senators Stephen Douglas and Daniel Webster were instrumental in passing the bill.

Senator Henry Clay takes the floor in the Senate to discuss the laws in the Compromise of 1850.

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KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACTOF 1854

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It also repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, in which slavery was prohibited north of the 36°30' parallel. It helped to institute the policy of “popular sovereignty,” which Senator Douglas had supported for a long time. Douglas had been the chairman of the Senate Committee on Territories. This measure was offered a method of expanding territories into the northern and western territories. The residents of the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska Territory would decide policies on slavery in those territories. Many thought that an exceptional number of slave owners would migrate to the Kansas area, though it was too far north to be an ideal location for slave labor. However, a part of Kansas to the east along the Missouri River was prime farmland and could be an excellent location for the use of slave labor. In addition, it was near Missouri, a slave state.

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KANSAS STATE GOVERNMENTCreating a state government for Kansas inflamed political differences. There were many causes of these differences. Free states such as Iowa and Illinois bordered the slave state of Missouri. Although it was a slave state, the majority of the people in Missouri were not slave owners, and those who did own slaves did not have many of them. Still, Missouri did not like the idea that if Kansas entered the Union as a free state, Missouri would be surrounded by free states. Missourians viewed this as a threat because people who opposed slavery might help Missouri slaves to escape. In the Senate there was a balance between slave and free states. The admission of one slave state or one free state would destroy that balance in the Senate.

United States Senator Stephen Douglas, a

supporter of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

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IMMIGRATION TO KANSASSoutherners, particularly slave owners from Missouri, began to immigrate to the Kansas Territory. They came to Kansas to vote to ensure slavery would be allowed in Kansas. Among the first slavery settlements formed were in Leavenworth and Atchison. At the same time, there were anti-slave groups in the North raising funds to help settlers migrate to Kansas to vote to make Kansas a free state. These settlers established in Manhattan, Lawrence, and the eventual capital city of Topeka. In addition, these settlers were primed to fight. Abolitionist preacher Henry Ward Beecher raised funds so men moving to Kansas would be armed with rifles. These rifles became known as “Beecher’s Bibles.” More than 1,200 men arrived and prepared for battle. Henry Ward Beecher

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IMPENDING BATTLERumors had begin to spread throughout Kansas that 30,000 Northerners were coming to the region. As a result, the South began preparing a group of men, the Border Ruffians, who would be prepared to defend the Kansas Territory. They believed Northerners were attempting to steal the vote to

Map of the Kansas Territory

determine slavery in the region. More than 6,000 votes were cast in the election although there were only 2,900 legal citizens in the area. Those in favor of slavery won the election. The Border Ruffians would pressure the territory’s first legislature to vote in favor of slavery. During the first meeting of the legislature in Pawnee on July 2, 1855, it enacted legislation to legalize slavery in the Kansas Territory. Laws were passed after the legislation adjourned to the Shawnee Mission. This led to violence.

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WAKARUSA WARIn August 1855, those opposed to slavery in the territory met and vowed they would make sure laws allowing slavery would not be passed. They also drafted their own laws, the Topeka Constitution, and formed an independent government. Two months later John Brown, an abolitionist, came to the territory to lead his crusade against slavery. This led to the Wakarusa War. Brown led a campaign against those who supported slavery. President Franklin Pierce condemned Brown’s actions and stated this could be considered a revolution against the government of the Kansas Territory. Abolitionist John Brown

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BROOKS VS. SUMNERThe battle between the Border Ruffians and the Free Staters continued as the Border Ruffians went to Lawrence, Kansas, and destroyed the property of Free Staters. The next day a skirmish occurred between Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts on the steps of the United States Capitol Washington, D.C. Brooks attacked Sumner with a cane after Sumner criticized Southerners who supported slavery in the Kansas Territory. Sumner suffered injuries that kept him from the Senate for three years. This was one of the reasons John Brown started a campaign against pro-slavery forces in Kansas. He first attacked the Pottawatomie Creek region. Like many of the battles in which Brown was involved, there was significant violence. Brown and his group hacked five slavery supporters to death with swords.

Congressman Preston Brooks attacks Senator

Charles Sumner.

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BROWN’S ATTACKS CONTINUEJohn Brown continued his attacks, taking twenty-five pro-slavery people as prisoners at the Battle of Black Jack. Because of the attacks, the capital of Kansas was temporarily moved to Lecompton. In addition, a three-man group was brought to the region to investigate the elections involving the slavery vote. They determined the Border Ruffians had illegally influenced the vote. President Pierce, however, ignored the investigation and continued to recognize the pro-slavery government in the region. Pierce was an adamant supporter of the region’s government, even sending federal troops on July 4, 1856, to disrupt a meeting of the independent government of the Free Staters.

Site Where John Brown and His Men Won the Battle of Black Jack

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BATTLES AND MASSACRES

In August 1856, Southerners began forming armies and entering the Kansas Territory. During this time, Brown and his men battled approximately four hundred pro-slavery men during the Battle of Osawatomie that lasted for two months. By October, Brown departed the region. Around the same time, the territory elected John W. Geary as governor. Geary was a noted peacemaker, helping to quell the tension between the opposing sides. There were still instances of violence in the region, including the Marias des Cygnes Massacre in 1858. During this battle, five Free Staters were killed. By the time the battles during the Bleeding Kansas period ended, fifty-six people had been killed.

John W. Geary, the New Territorial Governor of

Kansas

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THE CONSTITUTIONAL FIGHTFree Staters drafted the Topeka Constitution, but it was not the only document drafted at this time. The regular government of Kansas met in 1857 in a constitutional convention and eventually drafted the Lecompton Constitution. The document stated the needs and necessity for slavery in the territory. Although abolitionists opposed the document, President James Buchanan accepted it. Congress disagreed with Buchanan’s support of the document and wanted to conduct another election. Pro-slavery advocates boycotted this election and allowed the Free Staters to vote and defeat the Constitution. Eventually, a third constitution, the Wyandotte Constitution, was drafted. This document supported freedom in the region. After it passed (66 to 34 percent vote), Kansas entered the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861.

President James Buchanan, An Adamant Supporter of

the Lecompton Constitution

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LEGACY OF BLEEDING KANSASWhile the matter of Kansas had been settled, John Brown’s crusade against slavery was not over. He spent the next few years raising funds and assembling a group of men who continued to fight against slavery. On October 16, 1859, Brown and nineteen others led an attack at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Brown planned to lead slaves off their plantations, arm them with weapons, and add them to his movement. Brown and his men wreaked havoc, killed four people, and wounded nine others. Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Less led members of United States Army defeated the attackers. Two of Brown’s sons were killed. Brown was imprisoned and later hanged.

A slave mother and her child support John Brown before his

execution.