Kansas & Nebraska Affairs

By Adam Shaw and Michael Nuese

Stephen A. Douglas

“ If the people of Kansas want a slaveholding state, let them have it, and if they want a free state they have a right to it, and it is not for the people of Illinois, or Missouri, or New York, or Kentucky, to complain, whatever the decision of Kansas may be.”—quoted in The Civil War, by Geoffrey C. Ward(book)

What does it mean?

In this quote, Stephen Douglas is saying that the people of Kansas have the right to choose what they want to do. It isn't for any other state to decide for them. That they had the right to popular sovereignty.

John Brown

"I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done."  

 

 

What does it mean?

John Brown can be described as one of the first radical domestic terrorists. The views he portrayed, and that was portrayed in the quote, Were that the only way we can compensate for slavery is if we pay for it in blood. He believed that God had called upon him to fight slavery. So he took a group to a pro-slavery settlement and murdered five men. This triggered multiple other events and eventually led to Kansas receiving the name "Bloody Kansas"

Charles Sumner

"It annuls all past compromises with slavery, and makes all future compromises impossible. Thus it puts freedom and slavery face to face and bids them grapple. Who can doubt the results?" 

 

 

What Does it Mean?

Charles Sumner is saying that everything that has been compromised doesn't matter anymore. As of now all of that is annulled. And now freedom and slavery are being put face to face and the people are going to decide what to do. And he is trying to say it is fair for the conclusion to come like this.

Popular Sovereignty

- The right by citizens of a territory to vote for/against slavery - Douglas viewed as most fair to divide slave states - Hence, he proposed it for Nebraska Territory - Nebraska, however, was on the 36-30 line - They entered the Union as two separate states - To please the South, he repealed the Missouri Compromise

Kansas-Nebraska Act

- Would make Nebraska north, Kansas south - North opposed because Missouri Compromise - South unanimously agreed - Act became law in May 1854

- Watched the land in the West (new territories)

Border Ruffians

-Kansas had enough people to vote for a legislature in 1855

-However, thousands of these border ruffians from Pro-slavery Missouri marched into Kansas with their revolvers cocked

-They illegally voted for slavery, and won in a landslide

-Hence, the government of Kansas passed slavery laws

-Abolitionists formed a rival government in Topeka as a result

Sack of Lawrence

-Lawrence: Antislavery establishment in Kansas

-Pro slavery grand jury told sheriff to arrest them

-Possy of 800 armed men marched into Lawrence

-Burned their headquarters

-Destroyed two newspaper printing presses

-Looted many houses and stores

-Goes against the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Pottawatomie Massacre

-Led to John Brown's revenge

-Pro-slavery posse killed 5 men

-Pulled 5 men from this posse to the Pottawatomie Creek

-Slashed their hands off and stabbed them to death

-Led to a bunch of tragic incidents in Kansas

Violence in the Senate

-Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner & South Carolina's Andrew Butler

-Sumner ridiculed him: pro-slavery beliefs & bad speech

-Butler's nephew beat up Sumner with a cane

-North: outraged        South: supportive

-Rise of new political parties

Works CitedDanzer, Gerald A. The Americans. Orlando, FL: Holt                     McDougal/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print. "Kansas–Nebraska Act." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas-Nebraska_Act>. "File:Charles Sumner 1855 BPL-crop.jpg." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Sumner_1855_BPL-crop.jpg>. Thoreau, Henry David. "American Experience . John Brown's Holy War . Interview Transcripts | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/brown/filmmore/reference/primary/index.html>.     

 

Daily Report | House Divided. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu>.  "Stephen Douglas Response Speech."  The Civil War. Web. 18 Oct. 2011. <http://www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/abraham-lincoln/stephen-a-douglas-response.htm>.