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had banned slavery in the lands of the
Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°
30´ latitude line. Under the Kansas-
Nebraska Act, the two territories
would instead be allowed to decide
their position on slavery by
popular
sovereignty
.
Kansas quickly became a battle-
ground between pro-slavery and anti-
slavery factions. Abolitionist settlers
poured into the new territory, hoping
to secure its future as a free state. Pro-
slavery Missourians—known as “bor-
der ruffians”—crossed into Kansas to
harass the settlers and vote illegally.
All too often, violent clashes broke
out. The violence became so bad that
the term “Bleeding Kansas”
was coined to describe the
new territory.
The worst bloodshed
came in 1856. The town of
Lawrence, an anti-slavery
stronghold, was raided by a
mob of border ruffians. In
retaliation, abolitionist John Brown
led an attack on a pro-slavery camp
near Pottawatomie Creek, killing five
men.
Ultimately, the abolitionists were
19
Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska
This political cartoon from 1856
blames the Democratic Party for
violence in Kansas in the years
after the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska
Act. It depicts a bearded “free-
soiler” (someone who opposed
slavery in the Kansas Territory)
being held down by Democratic
Party politicians James
Buchanan and Lewis Cass,
while two other Democrats,
Senator Stephen A. Douglas
and President Franklin Pierce,
force a black man (representing
slavery) down his throat.
John Brown