Far to the west, thunder rolls – The tumult of battle rages where bleeding Kansas is waging war on slavery! The first mention of “bleeding Kansas” in the Tribune is in a poem by Charles S. Weyman published in the newspaper on September 13, 1856: in response, Lawrence set up his own militia, led by Charles L. Robinson, the man elected governor by the Topeka legislature, and James H. Lane. The parties besieging Lawrence did not reluctantly disperse until after Shannon negotiated a peace agreement between Robinson and Lane and David Rice Atchison. The conflict had another death when free trader Thomas Barber was shot dead near Lawrence on December 6. The Freecasters quickly elected delegates to a separate legislature based in Topeka, which declared itself a legitimate government and called the pro-slavery government operating in Lecompton “fake.” This body created the first territorial constitution, the Constitution of Topeka. Charles L. Robinson, a native of Massachusetts and agent of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, was elected territorial governor. The “Bleeding Kansas” period has been reproduced spectacularly in countless works of American popular culture, including literature, theater, film, and television.

Among the many representations and mentions are: In response to contested votes and rising tensions, Congress sent a three-member special committee to the Kansas Territory in 1856. [11] The committee reported in July 1856 that if the election of 30. By March 1855 he would have been limited to “real settlers” and would have elected a free state legislature. [11] [15] The report also states that Parliament, which in fact sits in Lecompton, “was an illegally constituted body and did not have the power to pass valid laws.” [11] [15] In other words, the allegations of fraud by the citizens of the Free State were well-founded, and the count legislature was indeed rigged. In May 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska from Indian lands for settlement by American citizens. The bill was passed by Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois proposed to appease southern representatives in Congress who had opposed earlier proposals to admit states from the Nebraska Territory because of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had explicitly prohibited the practice of slavery in all U.S. territories north of 36° 30` north of latitude 36°30` and west of the river.

Mississippi. except in the state of Missouri. Southerners feared that the incorporation of Nebraska would upset the balance between slave and free states, giving northern abolitionists an advantage in Congress. As abolitionism became increasingly popular in the United States and tensions between its supporters and critics increased, the U.S. Congress maintained a weak balance of political power between representatives of the North and the South. At the same time, the increasing emigration of Americans to the country`s western border and the desire to build a transcontinental railroad that would connect the eastern states to California led to the incorporation of the western territories into the Union. The inevitable question was how these territories would deal with the issue of slavery if they were eventually promoted to statehood. This issue had already plagued Congress during the political debates that followed the Mexican-American War. The compromise of 1850 had solved the problem, at least temporarily, by allowing residents of the Utah and New Mexico territories to pass their own laws regarding slavery by popular vote, a law that set a new precedent in the ongoing slavery debate. [5] Violence continued to increase. John Brown led his sons and other supporters to plan the murder of settlers who advocated slavery. At a pro-slavery settlement on Pottawatomie Creek on the night of May 24, the group seized five pro-slavery men from their homes and hacked them to death with broad swords.

Brown and his men escaped and began planning a large-scale slave revolt at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, with the financial support of boston abolitionists. [28] Immediately, immigrants who supported both sides of the slavery issue arrived in Kansas Territory to find their residency and the right to vote. Among Kansas` early settlers were citizens of slave states, particularly Missouri, many of whom strongly supported Southern ideologies and emigrated to Kansas to support the expansion of slavery. Pro-slavery immigrants colonized cities, including Leavenworth and Atchison. President Franklin Pierce`s administration appointed territorial officials in Kansas who agreed with their own pro-slavery views, and given rumors that the border was being overwhelmed by Northerners, thousands of non-resident slavery advocates quickly came to Kansas in an effort to influence local politics. As a result, pro-slavery factions won many early territorial elections, often through fraud and intimidation. In November 1854, thousands of pro-slavery gunmen known as the “Border Ruffians” or “Southern Yankees,” mostly from Missouri, flocked to the Kansas Territory, influencing the vote in the election of a non-voting delegate to Congress in favor of pro-slavery Democratic candidate John Wilkins Whitfield. [7] The following year, a congressional committee investigating the election reported that 1,729 fraudulent votes had been cast, compared to 1,114 legal votes.

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