Bleeding Kansas - Historical Paper

Bleeding Kansas

Historical Essay, 26 April 2016

Author Note

This paper was prepared for English 111A4, taught by Professor Sisson.

Bleeding Kansas

When one thinks of the civil war, one does not think about the bloodshed virgin prairie lands of Kansas that led up to the civil war. The Territory of Kansas was nicknamed Bleeding Kansas because of the rampant lawlessness and bloodshed from a violent political aggression between the pro and anti-slavery settlers on the decision whether Kansas would enter into the Union as a free or slave territory. Militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause adopted the term Jayhawkers. These “Jayhawkers” would often clash with the “Border Ruffians,” who were the pro-slavery settlers from Missouri. Throughout 1853 to 1861, the historical event known as “Bleeding Kansas” occurred, which was one of the many significant events that eventually led up to the American Civil War.

The year was 1854, and a new political party called the Republican Party was formed which promised to protect both free soil and a free Kansas. It was in 1859 when Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas pushed the Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress, creating two new territories: Nebraska to the north and Kansas to the south. According to the Missouri Compromise of 1820, both new territories would have been free territories prohibiting the practice of slavery, as both territories were located north of the parallel 36-degree 30-degree line. Knowing that Southern politicians would not approve two new free territories, Senator Douglas declared that popular sovereignty through the Compromise of 1850 would determine if these two new territories would become free or slave territories. Senator Douglas expected popular sovereignty to work within unorganized territories since it worked within the organized territories acquired during the Mexican-American War.

The virgin Kansas terrain was unsuitable for the production of cotton; therefore, Senator Douglas...