Okla-homey
1/29/2007, 07:27 AM
Jan 29, 1861: Divided Kansas enters the Union
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7835/mmmmmmmmmmmmhfjohnbrownnp6.jpg
146 years ago today, the territory of Kansas is admitted into the Union as the 34th state, or the 28th state if the secession of eight Southern states over the previous six weeks is taken into account.
Kansas, deeply divided over the issue of slavery, was granted statehood as a free state in a gesture of support for Kansas' militant anti-slavery forces, which had been in armed conflict with pro-slavery groups since Kansas became a territory in 1854.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7405/mmmmmmmmmmmmm3b38347v5wak3.jpg
Trouble in territorial Kansas began with the signing of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act by President Franklin Pierce. This is critical to understand in order to understand why it got so nasty in Kansas before the Civil War when the issue of slavery was decided once and for all. The Kansas-Nebraska Act stipulated that settlers in the newly created territories of Nebraska and Kansas would decide by popular vote whether their territory would be free or slave. This was a recipe for disaster.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3502/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmkansasnebsu4.gif
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1294/mmmmmmmmmmmmmpbrd0070zz5.jpg
Pres. Franklin Pierce
In early 1855, Kansas' first election proved a violent affair, as more than 5,000 so-called Border Ruffians invaded the territory from western Missouri and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4526/mmmmmmmmmmmmmneeacsignlhv7.jpg
Anti-slavery elements worked hard to get free state folks into Kansas to hopefully tip the scales in their favor. As tension mounted, Eli Thayer of Massachusetts devised a plan to prevent slavery from spreading to Kansas. He believed that if enough antislavery supporters settled in the territory, they could capture the vote and make Kansas a free state. One month before the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law, Thayer and other prestigious New England businessmen incorporated the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. The company reorganized in 1855 as the New England Emigrant Aid Company (NEEAC).
The folks who came to Kansas from New England for this purpose mostly settled around Lawrence...which kinda helps explain why Lawrence is still a bastion of blue amidst a sea of red throughout the rest of the state.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/101/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmassacreev5.gif
In May 1858, proslavery settlers executed a group of their free state neighbors along the Marais de Cygne river in southeastern Kansas Territory. This event became known as the Marais de Cygne Massacre
To prevent further bloodshed, Andrew H. Reeder, appointed territorial governor by President Pierce, reluctantly approved the election. A few months later, the Kansas Free State forces were formed, armed by supporters in the North and featuring the leadership of militant abolitionist John Brown.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5519/mmmmmmmmmmmmmm2000decembi0.jpg
Gov. Andrew Reeder. Tough job, kinda like being President of Iraq today.
John Brown's motivation was honorable, but his methods were'nt. During the night of May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers (some of them members of the Pottawatomie Rifles) killed five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas.
During the next four years, raids, skirmishes, and massacres continued in "Bleeding Kansas," as it became popularly known. The territory's admittance into the Union in January 1861 only increased tension, but just three and a half months later the irrepressible differences in Kansas were swallowed up by the full-scale outbreak of the American Civil War.
During the Civil War, Kansas suffered the highest per capita rate of war-related deaths of any Union state, largely because of its great internal divisions over the issue of slavery.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2498/insane7zouj9.jpg
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7835/mmmmmmmmmmmmhfjohnbrownnp6.jpg
146 years ago today, the territory of Kansas is admitted into the Union as the 34th state, or the 28th state if the secession of eight Southern states over the previous six weeks is taken into account.
Kansas, deeply divided over the issue of slavery, was granted statehood as a free state in a gesture of support for Kansas' militant anti-slavery forces, which had been in armed conflict with pro-slavery groups since Kansas became a territory in 1854.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/7405/mmmmmmmmmmmmm3b38347v5wak3.jpg
Trouble in territorial Kansas began with the signing of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act by President Franklin Pierce. This is critical to understand in order to understand why it got so nasty in Kansas before the Civil War when the issue of slavery was decided once and for all. The Kansas-Nebraska Act stipulated that settlers in the newly created territories of Nebraska and Kansas would decide by popular vote whether their territory would be free or slave. This was a recipe for disaster.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/3502/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmkansasnebsu4.gif
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1294/mmmmmmmmmmmmmpbrd0070zz5.jpg
Pres. Franklin Pierce
In early 1855, Kansas' first election proved a violent affair, as more than 5,000 so-called Border Ruffians invaded the territory from western Missouri and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4526/mmmmmmmmmmmmmneeacsignlhv7.jpg
Anti-slavery elements worked hard to get free state folks into Kansas to hopefully tip the scales in their favor. As tension mounted, Eli Thayer of Massachusetts devised a plan to prevent slavery from spreading to Kansas. He believed that if enough antislavery supporters settled in the territory, they could capture the vote and make Kansas a free state. One month before the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law, Thayer and other prestigious New England businessmen incorporated the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. The company reorganized in 1855 as the New England Emigrant Aid Company (NEEAC).
The folks who came to Kansas from New England for this purpose mostly settled around Lawrence...which kinda helps explain why Lawrence is still a bastion of blue amidst a sea of red throughout the rest of the state.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/101/mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmassacreev5.gif
In May 1858, proslavery settlers executed a group of their free state neighbors along the Marais de Cygne river in southeastern Kansas Territory. This event became known as the Marais de Cygne Massacre
To prevent further bloodshed, Andrew H. Reeder, appointed territorial governor by President Pierce, reluctantly approved the election. A few months later, the Kansas Free State forces were formed, armed by supporters in the North and featuring the leadership of militant abolitionist John Brown.
http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5519/mmmmmmmmmmmmmm2000decembi0.jpg
Gov. Andrew Reeder. Tough job, kinda like being President of Iraq today.
John Brown's motivation was honorable, but his methods were'nt. During the night of May 24 and the morning of May 25, 1856. John Brown and a band of abolitionist settlers (some of them members of the Pottawatomie Rifles) killed five pro-slavery settlers north of Pottawatomie Creek in Franklin County, Kansas.
During the next four years, raids, skirmishes, and massacres continued in "Bleeding Kansas," as it became popularly known. The territory's admittance into the Union in January 1861 only increased tension, but just three and a half months later the irrepressible differences in Kansas were swallowed up by the full-scale outbreak of the American Civil War.
During the Civil War, Kansas suffered the highest per capita rate of war-related deaths of any Union state, largely because of its great internal divisions over the issue of slavery.
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2498/insane7zouj9.jpg