Bleeding Kansas (may 30, 1854 – jan 29, 1861)
Description:
AKA: Bloody Kansas
the Border War
A series of violent civil confrontations in the United States between 1854 and 1861 which emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas. The conflict was characterized by years of electoral fraud, raids, assaults, and retributive murders carried out in Kansas and neighboring Missouri by pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" and anti-slavery "Free-Staters".
At the core of the conflict was the question of whether the Kansas Territory would allow or outlaw slavery, and thus enter the Union as a slave state or a free state. The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 called for popular sovereignty, requiring that the decision about slavery be made by the territory's settlers (rather than outsiders) and decided by a popular vote.
Bleeding Kansas was demonstrative of the gravity of the era's most pressing social issues, from the matter of slavery to states' rights. Its severity made national headlines which suggested to the American people that the sectional disputes were unlikely to reach compromise without bloodshed, and it therefore directly presaged the American Civil War. Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861, but partisan violence continued along the Kansas–Missouri border for most of the war. The episode is commemorated with numerous memorials and historic sites.
Added to timeline:
History of Leadership In The States
Date:
