page_title: Border Ruffian
hierarchical_section_title: Border Ruffian
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Benjamin Stringfellow (1816-1891), Missouri attorney general, border ruffian, and railroad operator
context_page_description: Border Ruffians were pro-slavery activists from the slave-state of Missouri. From 1854 to 1860 they crossed the state border into Kansas Territory to force the acceptance of slavery there. The name was applied by Free-Staters in Kansas and abolitionists throughout the North. Armed Ruffians interfered in territorial elections, and attacked Free-State settlements. This violence was the origin of the phrase "Bleeding Kansas". The Ruffians contributed to the growing sectional tensions, and helped bring on the American Civil War.
context_section_description: Border Ruffians were pro-slavery activists from the slave-state of Missouri. From 1854 to 1860 they crossed the state border into Kansas Territory to force the acceptance of slavery there. The name was applied by Free-Staters in Kansas and abolitionists throughout the North. Armed Ruffians interfered in territorial elections, and attacked Free-State settlements. This violence was the origin of the phrase "Bleeding Kansas". The Ruffians contributed to the growing sectional tensions, and helped bring on the American Civil War.
caption: Benjamin Stringfellow was a notorious Border Ruffian. He publicly stated Missourians should vote in territorial elections in Kansas to make it pro-slavery
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