Bloodshed in Kansas Chapter 15, Section 3

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill to set up a government for the Nebraska Territory Stretched from Texas, north to Canada and Missouri west to the Rocky Mountains.

Kansas-Nebraska Act Kansas Nebraska Act Proposed by Stephen Douglas He proposed dividing the Nebraska territory into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska Popular sovereignty would decided the issue of slavery

Undoing the Missouri Compromise Kansas-Nebraska Act would undo the Missouri Compromise Missouri Compromise had banned slavery in Kansas in Nebraska

Undoing the Missouri Compromise Southern leaders supported the Kansas- Nebraska Act Thought slave owners from Missouri would move into Kansas So Kansas would become a slave state With the help of President Franklin Pierce, Stephen Douglas pushed the bill through Congress

Northern Outrage Northern reaction was angry Northerners protests Slavery could now spread to areas that had been free for more than 30 years Northerners protests Challenged the Fugitive Slave Law

Northern Outrage Citizens of Boston poured in to the streets to stop a caught fugitive slave from being sent to the South Showed the antislavery feeling was rising in the North

Kansas Explodes Proslavery and Antislavery forces sent forces to Kansas to fight for control on election day when popular sovereignty would decide the slave issue

Rushing to Kansas Most new arrivals were farmers from neighboring states Moved for cheap land Few owned slaves Abolitionist brought in more than 1,000 settlers from New England Border ruffians: Proslavery settlers rode across the border from Missouri

Divided Kansas 1855 Kansas held elections to choose lawmakers Hundred of border Ruffians crossed the border and voted illegally Helped elect a proslavery legislature

Divided Kansas New legislation quickly passed laws to protect slavery People could be put to death for helping slaves Speaking out against slavery was a crime punishable with two years of hard labor

Divided Kansas Antislavery settlers refused to accept these laws Elected their own government

The first shots 1856 a band of proslavery men raided Lawrence, and smashed the press of a Free Soil newspaper

The first shots John Brown, an abolitionist, who claimed God sent him t punish supporters of slavery, took his four sons to Pottawatomie Creek Drug five proslavery settlers from bed and murdered them These murders sparked more violence By 1856 more than 200 people had been killed That territory is known as Bleeding Kansas

Bloodshed in the Senate Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was a leading abolitionist senator Denounced the proslavery legislation in Kansas Attacked southern foes, singling out Andrew Butler senator from South Carolina Butler was not in the senate on the day of Sumner’s speech

Bloodshed in the Senate Days later Butler’s nephew Congressman Preston Brook marched into the senate and beat Sumner with a cane Southern defended brook’s actions Northerners saw it as evidence that slavery leads to violence

The Dred Scott Decision Dred Scott was a slave that lived in Missouri for many years Later he moved with his owner to Illinois and then to Wisconsin territory was slavery was not allowed They returned to Missouri and Scott’s owner died Antislavery lawyers filed a lawsuit saying Dred Scott was a free man because he has lived in a free territory

A sweeping decision The case reached the Supreme Court Dred Scott Decision Dred Scott could not file a lawsuit because as a black he was not a citizen Justices agreed slaves were property

A sweeping decision Congress did not have the power to outlaw slaver in any territory the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional slavery was legal in all territories

The nation reacts In the North many people held public meetings Northerners feared that slavery could spread throughout the West