Bloody Kansas
In 1854, Sen. Stephen
A. Douglas drafted a bill to organize the Nebraska Territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
proposed to divide
the territory into 2 parts:
Kansas and Nebraska Douglas suggested that popular sovereignty, the people rule, should be used to
decide whether a territory becomes either a slave state or free state.
Southerners supported the bill because people would be able to vote in places where slavery was banned by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. However, if the bill passed, it would mean the destruction of the Missouri Compromise. Northerners/Abolitionists didn’t like the bill. The Kansas-Nebraska Act would pass, but it would lead to Kansas becoming a bloody battle ground over slavery.
Bleeding Kansas
More pro-slavery than anti-slavery settlers were in the Kansas Territory during the election of 1855. 5000 Missouri residents who were for slavery came to Kansas and voted illegally leading to the Kansas legislature being full of pro-slavery representatives. Anti-slavery residents rejected the new legislature.
Pro-slavery and anti-slavery residents armed themselves. Civil war broke out in Kansas that lasted for 3 years. This came to be known as “Bleeding Kansas”.
Next: Presidential Election of 1860/ Conclusion
Southerners supported the bill because people would be able to vote in places where slavery was banned by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. However, if the bill passed, it would mean the destruction of the Missouri Compromise. Northerners/Abolitionists didn’t like the bill. The Kansas-Nebraska Act would pass, but it would lead to Kansas becoming a bloody battle ground over slavery.
Bleeding Kansas
More pro-slavery than anti-slavery settlers were in the Kansas Territory during the election of 1855. 5000 Missouri residents who were for slavery came to Kansas and voted illegally leading to the Kansas legislature being full of pro-slavery representatives. Anti-slavery residents rejected the new legislature.
Pro-slavery and anti-slavery residents armed themselves. Civil war broke out in Kansas that lasted for 3 years. This came to be known as “Bleeding Kansas”.
Next: Presidential Election of 1860/ Conclusion