Bleeding Kansas
1865
Bloody Kansas
The Kansas Nebraska act is causing controversy within the new territories. Representatives from anti-slavery and pro- slavery persons are fighting in the new territories to attempt to persuade the new settlers to vote a certain way on slavery. The two groups have established two different "governments" and capitals, the anti-slavery being in Lawrence and pro slavery in Lecompton. The Union recognizes Lecompton as the legitimate capital of Kansas. Pro slavery men are attacking the free state men by using tactics such as tar and feathering, kidnapping, and murder. For example, A group of proslavery men entered Lawrence and burned the Free State hotel, destroyed two printing presses, and ransacked homes and stores.
Charles Sumner
Senator Sumner, a strong opposer of slavery and the Kansas Nebraska act, delivered a speech called "Crime Against Kansas." He argued for the immediate admission of Kansas as a free state, and denounced "slave power". He then attacked the authors of the act using sexual imagery. Preston Brooks was infuriated by attacks on his cousin, Andrew Butler (an author of Kansas Nebraska act), and caned Sumner to near death. Sumner was severely injured physically and psychologically.
John Brown
Brown, a fiery abolitionist, led a group of men on an attack at Pottawatomie Creek, where he and his sons hacked five pro slavery men to death. Brown also joined in on the fighting at Osawatomie Creek.
What is to come?
This is the first time anti-slavery and pro-slavery supporters have engaged each other in acts of extreme violence to express how they feel towards each other. These violent acts are creating more and more tension between the unit-slavery states and pro-slavery states, and the events of these disagreements do not foreshadow peace in the future.