2011 Summer Newsletter

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by, Jim Bousman In 1803 the land we call Kansas was part of the Louisiana Purchase. Prior to that time very few non OBUJWF QFPQMFT MJWFE JO UIF BSFB ć PTF UIBU EJE XFSF QSJNBSJMZ USBQQFST BOE B GFX USBEFST .PTU MJWFE XJUI BOE married into the Indians tribes. As the years went by, explorers and settlers began to move into and through the newly purchased land. East of the Appalachian mountains, the population explosion and agribusiness was DSFBUJOH B EFNBOE GPS NPSF iTQBDFw BOE UIF FBTUFSO *OEJBOT XFSF NPWFE TUJMM GVSUIFS XFTU ć F TPVUI OFFEFE more land for cotton and tobacco, which was labor intensive. In New England, Yankee ingenuity was beginning UP EFWFMPQ B TUSPOH NBOVGBDUVSJOH FDPOPNZ ć FTF UXP EJČ FSFOU FDPOPNJD TPDJFUJFT DPMMJEFE PWFS UIF JTTVF PG slavery. Slavery became a festering political issue that would have a direct impact on Kansas. ć F .JTTPVSJ $PNQSPNJTF PG .JTTPVSJ XBT BENJUUFE BT B TMBWF TUBUF 5FYBT BOE $BMJGPSOJB UIF Wilmot Proviso, the Compromise of 1850, popular sovereignty, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act were all attempts to address the question of how to keep an equal balance between slave and free states. Before Kansas became a territory, no settlers were allowed to obtain or settle on land in Indian Territory. ć F 6 4 "SNZ UBTLFE XJUI FOGPSDJOH UIF MBXT HPWFSOJOH BDDFTT UP UIF UFSSJUPSZ XBT HSFBUMZ VOEFSNBOOFE BOE TDBUUFSFE BMPOH UIF CPSEFS ć VT JU XBT QPTTJCMF UP DSPTT UIF CPSEFS BOE TUBLF B DMBJN XJUIPVU NJMJUBSZ JOUFSGFS ence. Popular (squatter) sovereignty gave the inhabitants of the Kansas-Nebraska Territory the right to vote XIFUIFS UIF UFSSJUPSJFT XPVME CF BENJUUFE BT B TMBWF PS B GSFF TUBUF ć FSF XBT OFWFS B RVFTUJPO UIBU /FCSBTLB would be a free state: but Kansas was another matter. By 1854, Missourians (read south) as well as the North realized Kansas would be up for grabs. Missou SJBOT CFHBO UP DSPTT JOUP ,BOTBT 5FSSJUPSZ BOE PO i+VOF UFO EBZT Bę FS UIF PQFOJOH PG UIF UFSSJUPSZ B number of Missourians met on the Kansas side, in Salt Creek Valley, three miles from Fort Leavenworth, and organized the Squatters’ Claim Association.”* In the North the New England Emigrant Aid Company and others started gearing up to send settlers to Kansas. 8JUI UIF QBTTBHF PG UIF ,BOTBT /FCSBTLB "DU UIF Ę PPE HBUFT PQFOFE BOE FNJHSBOUT CFHBO UP Ę PX JOUP ,BOTBT ć VT UIF SFTJEFOUT PG ,BOTBT XPVME CF BCMF UP EFDJEF GPS UIFNTFMWFT XIFUIFS PS OPU UIFZ XBOUFE TMBW FSZ ć F NBKPSJUZ PG UIF GSFF TUBUF TFUUMFST XFSF iXFTUFSOFSTw XIJMF UIF QSP TMBWFSZ TFUUMFST DBNF GSPN .JTTPVSJ Arkansas and the trans-Mississippi south. In addition to settlers, the New England Emigrant Aid Company sent representatives to establish towns: POF JT 0TBXBUPNJF ć F +PIO BOE 4BSBI &WFSFUU MFUUFST HJWF BO FYDFMMFOU BDDPVOU PG B TFUUMFST MJGF JO 0TBXBUP NJF "MUIPVHI UIFSF XFSF PUIFS UPXOT -BXSFODF BOE 5PQFLB XPVME QMBZ B TJHOJĕ DBOU role in the march to statehood.

It has been my observation that an axiom of journalism is “if it bleeds, it leads”. No wonder Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, coined the phrase “Bleed ing Kansas”. * Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1907- 1908, Centennial Celebration BU 1JLF T 1BXOFF 7JMMBHF ć F 'JSTU 5XP :FBST JO ,BOTBT Q

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