Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas
Directions: Using your research from the Kansas-Nebraska Slides and the videos posted on Classroom, fill in the blanks to tell the story of Kansas and Nebraska.
The story begins with the two territories of and applying for statehood. Would they become free or slave states? How would the government of the United States preserve the balance of between North and South?
According to the Missouri Compromise, both Kansas and Nebraska should be. Senator of Illinois knew that the South would never allow two additional free states. So he had a plan: get rid of the Missouri Compromise and instead --allow the people of Kansas and Nebraska to decide by voting. This is called . The President, , supported Douglas’ idea which eventually became known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act. After Congress passed this new law, thousands of people in pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups moved to Kansas in hopes of swaying the election. Many of the people who moved to Kansas were from the slave state of and were known as . They were armed, dangerous and came to Kansas just to vote in the election. Even though only 1,500 voters lived in Kansas at the time, over 6,000 votes were cast and a pro-slavery government was elected. The pro-slavery government started passing laws that supported slavery--this angered those who opposed slavery.
What followed was a 3 year within Kansas. The war was sparked by famous abolitionist , who one night attacked and killed 5 pro-slavery settlers. He said that he heard a message from God to end slavery! Meanwhile in Washington D. C. debates in Congress were getting heated. Massachusetts Senator almost lost his life when he was beaten with a cane by pro-slavery Senator Preston Brooks. What were they arguing about? Slavery in Kansas. These events came to be known as and historians point to it as a major cause of the