New York's senator H. Seward challenged the South just three days after the House of Representatives approved the Kansas-Nebraska act in 1854.
The popular vote would determine weather Kansas became a slave state or free.
Both free-state and slave-state settlers wanted to win the majority at the ballet box and were ready to fight if necessary.
Emigrant Aid Societies
Emigrant Aid
Emigrant aid societies promoted settlement from free states and slave states in both the North and South.
The New England Emigrant Aid Company was the most popular. It sponsored about 1,240 settlers in 1854 and 1855.
In the east, Missourians bordered by Illonois which was a free state. They also borderd on the north by Iowa. They wanted to secure Kansas for slavery.
Small rural communities from Virginia to Texas raised money towards proslavery settlers.
Senator David Rice Atchison supported thousands of frontiersmen to invade Kansas.
Fighting
On May 21, 1856, fighting began to break out.
Hundreds of men who were proslavery, raided the town of Lawrence which was the middle of free-state settlement.
Only a single man died, but it still bothered the North.
When John Brown heard about Lawrence it caused him to "fight with fire".
John Brown led a group of men who murdered five proslavery settlers beside Pottawatomie Creek.
Guerrilla war took over the territory.
Other Events in Kansas
Other Events
"Bleeding Kansas gained poularity among the Republican Party.
Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusettsdelivered a speech in May 1856 titled "The Crime against Kansas", which attacked Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina.
Sumner called Butler a "Don Quixote" who had a mistress he described as "the harlot, slavery."
A kinsman of Butlers, and a member of the House in South Carolina, Preston Brooks defended Butler's honor and his state.
On May 22, Preston Brooks beat Sumner over the head with his cane.
Brooks decided to resign but was later reelected in the House.
Question For the Class
Do you think that Preston Brooks was right to beat Charles Sumner over the head with his cane? Why or why not?