The Events Of Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty In The Civil War
The United States was a turbulent and politically divided place in 1850’s and leading up the Civil War. The Kansas Territory exemplified the treacherous nature of the U.S. experiencing all the issues that Congress tried to ignore in order to hold together the Union. Nicole Etcheson details the events in her book Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era. Most people used the name Bleeding Kansas to describe the violent atmosphere of the territory. The violence stemmed from Stephen A. Douglas’s idea of popular sovereignty that is allowing the people to vote on the admission of slavery into the state’s constitution. People from the North and the South, mostly Missouri, flooded into Kansas for cheap land and a chance to vote on slavery’s …show more content…
Before the events of Bleeding Kansas happened, Congress had to pass the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The second draft of the act championed by Stephen Douglas passed because it allowed popular sovereignty to decide if slavery would be permitted in the new territories. When understanding the events of Bleeding Kansas, it is best to follow the four distinct constitutions drawn up by the settlers. The first attempt at a constitution came from free-staters in Topeka. While the Topeka constitution prohibited slavery, it “clearly compromised the varied attitudes on race…” (75). Creating a state that did not allow slavery was more important than black rights. A proslavery legislature created the Lecompton constitution to counter the free-staters. Etcheson wrote that “Their first loyalty was to making Kansas a slave state…” (141). Their goal was to allow slavery to expand to Kansas and protect slave owners. Another legislature later tried to pass the Leavenworth constitution. The constitution was far more radical than the Topeka constitution because it allowed free blacks to vote on the constitution and provided a vote for black suffrage (178). The aim of the free staters had changed from being against slavery to expanding black rights. The final constitution was the Wyandotte constitution. It also prohibited slavery but left suffrage up to the legislature. There was no huge debacles or excitement because most accepted that Kansas was going to be free. In the beginning of Kansas there was two separate groups that did not care about black rights, but by the end the liberty of blacks was a normalized
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768 Words | 4 PagesThe first instance of violence came when abolitionist newcomers, including the infamous New England Emigrant Aid Company, in Kentucky carried rifles nicknamed “Beecher’s Bibles” chanting comments like “Ho for Kansas” out to make both new territories free states. Southerners, at the time of the newcomers arrival, had thought there was an unspoken understanding that Kansas would become a slave state and Nebraska a free state raising new feelings of betrayal. Bullets between the two disagreeing groups began to be shot. The turning point of Bleeding Kansas, however, came in 1856 when proslavery raiders burned and shot up a free-soil town called Lawrence. These violent explosions largely contributed to the effects of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of
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618 Words | 3 PagesWE belive that when the vote to decide the outcome of Kansas is taken, there will be a flood of people from boardering states comeing in Many people from the neighboring slave state Missouri could possibly come in. This could sway the vote from the real residents of Kansas. They could also come in and try to pressure the true residents of Kansas with violence(2). Imagine going to the polling place and having a gun held to your head, this would make you want to change your vote to the opinion of the gun man. Tensions between the north and the south are already high, popular sovergnty could be the last straw before something worse happens between the north and the south.
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657 Words | 3 PagesBleeding Kansas was a violent and corrupt part of our nation's history that’s why it significant to our history because two states were fighting to make Kansas a slave state and it led right up to the beginning of the Civil War Bleeding Kansas was important, it was significant to American history, and it led to the Civil War Bleeding Kansas was significant to American history Bleeding Kansas was important to American history because it was a time where there was a lot of violent protesting Bleeding Kansas led to the civil war because it had two groups of people fighting over slavery which was one of many reason for the starting of the Civil War. Bleeding Kansas was significant to American history. This event took place from 1854-1861
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551 Words | 3 PagesBleeding Kansas is one of the main reasons we no longer have slavery in America because Bleeding Kansas led to the American civil war, and was a significant part of American history. Bleeding Kansas led to the American civil war because many people fought over whether or not they think slavery should be legal. John Brown led many people to violence and Bleeding Kansas made the Republican Party. John Brown led many people to violence, which caused bleeding Kansas. Many people a long time ago were either pro-slavery or anti-slavery.
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1676 Words | 7 PagesDBQ #3: Civil War and Reconstruction In the decade preceding the Civil War, tensions between the North and the South intensified. The Compromise of 1850, which freed California, implemented a more rigorous version of the Fugitive Slave Act, and made several other points was the last true attempt to peaceably resolve the tensions revolving around slavery. Starting in about 1854, the South began to accuse the North of refusing to comply with the Fugitive Slave Act, and at one point the Act was ruled unconstitutional by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 also contributed greatly towards the Civil War, as it triggered what later would become known as “Bleeding Kansas”.
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1208 Words | 5 PagesThis act proposed the repealing of the 36-30 line and introducing more popular sovereignty by once again giving this power of choice to the citizens of the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Though this did bring upon some problems (such as people coming from neighboring states to illegally vote on these decisions), this freedom of choice was a huge step in the legislation of slavery. Obviously, the Emancipation Proclamation and the whole abolishment of slavery in 1863 and 1865, respectively, were both huge steps in American history concerning the legal status of
Bleeding Kansas Essay
280 Words | 2 Pages“Bleeding Kansas” involved Northern and Southern settlers, Border Ruffians, and John Brown and it affected Kansas. Bleeding Kansas was a sequence of violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces to decide whether Kansas should be a free or slave state. Northerners often sided towards the belief of anti-slavery. Tempers flared in Kansas over impending decision of it being admitted as a free or slave state; a large population of Northerners entered Kansas to sway the decision. This led to brutal conflict between people who believed in continuing slavery in the new territories.
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918 Words | 4 PagesThis new Constitution called for something in between the last two forms of government they had: they called for a strong central government that would last but wouldn 't endanger the citizen’s freedom or rights. This became known as the U.S. Constitution. In the end of the Constitutional Convention, each delegate left with a copy of the Constitution to convince the states to approve it. It got ratified in 1788. In the U.S. Constitution, there were several clauses that focused on slavery, such as ⅗ Compromise, slave trade clause, and the fugitive slave clause.
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