Popular Sovereignty
The decision about how Kansas would enter the union as a state was determined
by an election among the residents of the territory. Normally this is a lawful
and simple vote by the constituents. This was not true in the 1860’s in the
Kansas Territory. Instead it became a blood bath and, some consider, the first
shots of the War Between the States were fired here. A struggle ensued between
the “border ruffians” who crossed state lines on Election Day to skew the vote
for Kansas to enter the union as a slave state, and the freestaters who wanted
no slavery in the new state.
Skirmishes resulted in several towns in eastern Kansas with Lawrence being
sacked and its citizens terrorized. John Brown made a name for himself as a
violent abolitionist in the territory. It would take several tries and
constitutional conventions before Kansas was allowed to enter as a free state.
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