feb 27, 1856 - Bleeding Kansas

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(until 1860) Senator Douglass's notion that KS & NE territories should determine the status of slavery through popular sovereignty resulted in it being contested through popular violence. KS territory was turning into a shooting match between pro-slavery and abolitionist representatives who had come west to make their contributions. After the free soil town of Lawrence was ransacked, John Brown and Co. killed 5 pro-slavery men in Pottawatomie. Each had set up their own capitols and the contest was on. Could anyone doubt it would end in war?

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