Bleeding Kansas

**Bleeding Kansas** was a border war on the Kansas-Missouri border. It started with the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 and continued into the American Civil War (1854–1861). This violent conflict resulted from people's strong beliefs for or against slavery.

The term was created by Horace Greeley of the _New York Tribune,_ who used it to describe the violence happening in the Kansas territory during the mid-to-late 1850s.

Three different groups were fighting for power in Kansas at the time: pro-slavery, abolitionists, and Free-Staters. Bleeding Kansas, fought over the issue of slavery, was a precursor of events to come in the American Civil War.

### Settling Kansas Territory

Before 1854, when the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened up the territory for settlement, there were already people living there. Among them were several tribes of Native Americans, including the Plains Indian tribes of the Kaw, the Osage, and the Pawnee . They lived and moved throughout what is now the state of Kansas.

In the 1830s, about 20 tribes living east of the Mississippi River were forcibly relocated west of Missouri. By 1854 most of these tribes had been forced to give up their lands to the federal government and move into what is now Oklahoma.

Before the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the idea of popular sovereignty gained interest in the territory. Several groups with political interests promoted the idea of settlement by white people.

One group who liked free-state settlement was the New England Emigrant Aid Company. The first group of New England settlers created the city of Lawrence, Kansas. The city quickly became a place of abolitionist activity. The same year, the city of Topeka, Kansas, was created by Cyrus K. Holliday and other opponents of slavery.

Missourians believed that abolitionists were planning to surround Missouri with free states. Missourians who wanted interest in Kansas to become a slave state flooded into the territory. The towns of Atchison and Leavenworth were founded by pro-slavery Missourians.

### Issue of slavery

Slavery was the main issue that led to the Civil War. The Southern United States was dependent on agriculture and on the 4 million slaves who did the work on Southern plantations. Much of the Southern economy depended on the free labor of slavery.

Slaves could be traded, rented, bought, or sold. A man's social status, prestige, and wealth were shown by the number of slaves that he owned.

In the Northern United States, by the time of the American Civil War, slavery had been banned. The North had almost all the industry of the country. Immigration, especially from Ireland and Germany, provided a source of low-cost labor, which meant that the North did not need slaves.

When the Kansas-Nebraska Act opened up the territory to settlement in 1854, the pro-slavery party in Missouri started to interfere in Kansas affairs. Missouri was admitted as a pro-slavery state under the Missouri Compromise. Slaveowners in Missouri were against having a free state on the state's western border, since runaway slaves could escape there. Missouri plantation owners wanted to make sure that Kansas became a slave state.

Most of the people who came to the Kansas Territory came for land and opportunities. Most were from eastern states such as Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New York. Almost all were white. Though they did not have slaves, most were prejudiced against black people. They believed the popular idea that black people were inferior to whites. Most of the settlers seemed to want free soil for whites only.

### First territorial legislature

On March 30, 1855, the Kansas Territory had the election for its first territorial legislature. The legislature would decide whether the territory would allow slavery, so it was an important election.

Just like during the November 1854 election, "Border Ruffians" from Missouri again went into the territory to vote. Supporters of slavery were elected to 37 of the 39 seats. Martin F. Conway and Samuel D. Houston from Riley County were the only Free-Staters elected.

Concerned about electoral fraud, Territorial Governor Andrew Reeder nullified the results in five voting districts. A special election was held on May 22 to elect replacements. Eight of the eleven delegates elected in the special election were Free-Staters, but that still left the pro-slavery lawmakers with a 29–10 advantage.

The United States Congress sent a three-man special committee to the Kansas Territory in 1856. The committee report said that the territory would have elected a Free-State legislature if the only people who were allowed to vote in the March 30, 1855 election were "actual settlers." According to the report, many of the legislators were illegally elected and the legislature "had no power to pass valid laws."

### The Wakarusa War

On November 21, 1855 a skirmish called the "Wakarusa War" started when a Free-Stater named Charles Dow was shot by a pro-slavery settler. Another Free-Stater, Thomas Barber, was shot and killed.

### Arson & looting

On May 21, 1856, Missourians invaded Lawrence and burned the Free State Hotel. They also destroyed two newspaper offices, and ransacked homes and stores.

### Caning of Charles Sumner

In May 1856, United States Senator Charles Sumner, a Republican, made a speech in the Senate denouncing the threat of slavery in Kansas. He wanted to destroy what Republicans called the "Slave Power." In the speech called "The Crime against Kansas," Sumner ridiculed the honor of elderly South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler. He compared Butler's pro-slavery agenda towards Kansas with the rape of a virgin, and described Butler's affection for it in sexually-explicit and disgusting terms.

The next day, Butler's cousin, South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks, nearly killed Sumner on the Senate floor with a heavy cane. The action shocked the nation, brought violence to the floor of the Senate, and deepened the sectional split.

### John Brown

In October 1855, abolitionist John Brown had come from Ohio to Kansas Territory to fight slavery. As the violence continued, Brown led his sons and other followers to plan the murder of pro-slavery settlers. At a pro-slavery settlement at Pottawatomie Creek on the night of May 24, 1856, the group seized five pro-slavery men from their homes and hacked them to death with broadswords. Brown and his men escaped and started making a plan for a full-scale slave insurrection to take place at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. They were later proved to have had financial support from Boston abolitionists. The pro-slavery territorial government was relocated to Lecompton.

In August 1856, thousands of pro-slavery men formed into armies and marched into Kansas. The same month, Brown and several of his followers engaged 400 pro-slavery militia at the "Battle of Osawatomie." The hostilities continued for another two months until Brown left the Kansas Territory. The new territorial governor, John W. Geary, took office and asked both sides for peace.

Once Geary became governor, there was peace. However, the peace was broken by violent outbreaks for two more years. The last major outbreak of violence was the 1858 Marais des Cygnes massacre, in which Border Ruffians killed five Free-State men. In all, about 56 people died during the Bleeding Kansas era.

## Kansas statehood

The political process that led to statehood for Kansas was long and difficult. To become a state, Kansas had to give an acceptable constitution to the U.S. Congress. Kansas tried to become a state four times. They had four different constitutions given. This was more than any other state territory. Missourians, because they were so close, went across the border to vote on the first state constitution. They were not Kansas residents but still stuffed the ballot boxes. With their help, pro-slavery candidates were elected to the constitutional convention. What came to be called the "Bogus Legislature" met on July 2, 1855. Among the laws passed by the Bogus Legislature were the death penalty for anyone setting slaves free or for saying or writing anything that might cause a slave rebellion. Citizens of Kansas who had talked about against slavery were not allowed to be jurors. The convention did everything it could to make anyone who opposed slavery leave Kansas. Abolitionists met on June 24, 1855 and rejected the Bogus Legislature's laws and constitution.

### Topeka Constitution

After several conventions, the Free-Staters met in Topeka to write a constitution. It was sent to Congress and voted on by Kansas voters on December 15. The Topeka constitution won ratification by a vote of 1,731 to 46. The landslide victory was because the supporters of slavery side boycotted the vote. President Franklin Pierce gave a speech January 24, 1856 saying the so-called Bogus Legislature was still legitimate. He called the Topeka Constitution and the abolitionist convention illegal.

The House of Representatives accepted the constitution by a vote of 99 to 97 and sent it sent to the Senate, where the bill was stopped in committee. The House and the Senate went back and forth over the issue, but nothing was fixed. Then, Pierce sent federal troops to break up the Topeka legislature on July 4. A year passed with no progress. Both abolitionists and pro-slavery Border Ruffians started fighting a guerrilla war on the border to try to fix the issue.

### Lecompton Constitution

A year passed with little change. However, James Buchanan was elected president of the United States. He chose Robert J. Walker to be the territorial governor of Kansas. His instructions to Walker were to help the "regular legislature" in creating a new constitutional convention. Buchanan promised Kansans that voters would be protected from force or fraud and that they should not protest the convention. Between mid-October and early November, the Lecompton Constitution was drafted. When it was presented to Kansas, the voters it had two choices: a “Constitution With Slavery” and a “Constitution With No Slavery.” However, it was cleverly worded in that it did not allow a vote against the constitution. That caused an angry response from voters, and Walker was forced to resign.

By a vote of 6,226 to 569, on December 21, the “Constitution With Slavery“ won. However, Congress did not like the Lecompton Constitution. The newly-created Republican Party joined forces with Northern Democrats, including Senator Stephen A. Douglas, to block the constitution because they felt that it did not represent the will of the Kansas people. The Democratic Party was split over the issue. Douglas and Free-Staters in Kansas got a referendum, which was held on January 4, 1858. This time, abolitionists, many of whom had earlier protested the vote, voted. More than 10,000 voters completely rejected the Lecompton Constitution.

### Leavenworth constitution

The third try at a constitution was called the Leavenworth Constitution  because on March 25, 1858, the delegates met in Leavenworth, Kansas. When a bill asking for another convention had been sent to the new territorial governor, James Denver for approval, he ignored it. The territorial legislature then passed the bill, but it met after it was scheduled to leave. That caused an angry debate before the convention even met. At the convention, abolitionists disagreed over several issues including what to offer to blacks. Even so, the delegates voted on a new constitution to present to the voters. It was ratified on May 18, but very few Kansans came out to vote on the issue. Congress did not even take the Leavenworth Constitution seriously. Instead, President Buchanan said that the Lecompton Constitution had been ratified and should be the constitution under consideration.

Before the Leavenworth Constitution was ratified, Congress sent it back to the Kansas voters. This time, there was a bribe attached. If the voters would approve the constitution, they would get 3.5 million acres of public land to use for schools, a university, and public works. If they rejected the constitution, Kansas would not be allowed to submit another constitution until it gained a larger population.

On August 2, the voters rejected the terms of statehood made by Congress by a vote of 11,812 to 1,926. Both the Lecompton and the Leavenworth Constitutions were dead. Both the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions realized it was time for a new plan for Kansas.

### Wyandotte Constitution and Kansas statehood

Things quieted down temporarily although the polls had shown the abolitionists were clearly in the majority. Many of the pro-slavery men from Missouri lost interest in the political affairs of Kansas. Many of the more radical abolitionists did the same. The territorial legislature proceeded to find a way for Kansas to become a state. On February 9, 1859, the legislature passed an act to create another constitutional convention. The new governor, Samuel Medary, signed the bill. A vote was held on March 28 and showed 5,306 Kansans for the measure and 1,425 against it. By then, Kansas was widely thought to be a free state if it was approved for statehood. However, other issues were being debated such as state borders, suffrage, and temperance. Delegates to the convention were elected and on July 5 met at Wyandotte, a town that later became part of Kansas City. On July 29, the Wyandotte Constitution was adopted without the signatures of many of the Democrats at the convention. It was presented to the people of Kansas on October 4 and was approved by a vote of 10,421 to 5,530.

The U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill in February 1860 for statehood that passed. In the U.S. Senate, however, the measure stalled and went to the Committee on Territories for three months before it came back to the Senate floor. The committee had recommended for it not be passed. Debates on the measure went back and forth, but nothing was done because of upcoming presidential election. In the election, Abraham Lincoln won the presidency. The Southern states then seceded from the Union. With Congress cleared of those against Kansas becoming a free state, the measure was passed. Buchanan was still president but signed the bill making Kansas the 34th state. The Wyandotte Constitution became the Kansas Constitution.

## Related pages

- Kansas
- Kansas in the American Civil War
- Pro-slavery (United States)
- Free-Stater (Kansas)
- Abolitionism
- Slavery in the United States

## Infobox (military conflict)

- **conflict**: Bleeding Kansas
- **partof**: Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War, the prelude to the American Civil War
- **image**: Reynolds's Political Map of the United States 1856.jpg
- **image size**: 300px
- **caption**: 1856 map showing slave states (gray), free states (pink), and territories (green) in the United States, with the Kansas Territory in center (white)
- **date**: 1854–1861
- **place**: Kansas and Missouri
- **result**: Kansas admitted to the Union as a free state
- **combatant1**: Free-Stater (Kansas), Anti-slavery settlers
(Free-Stater (Kansas), Free-Staters)
- **combatant2**: Slave state, Pro-slavery settlers (Border Ruffians)
- **casualties1**: Disputed - 100+
- **casualties2**: 80 or fewer; 20–30 killed