Bleeding Kansas was no doubt a preview and arguably the beginning of the Civil War. What began with the Missouri Compromise of 1820 ended with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Popular sovereignty, the middle way out for many moderates including Stephen Douglas and Franklin Pierce, would decide if slavery would be allowed within the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Both sides of the aisle flooded Kansas with settlers in farmers that were either for slavery or against. Unfortunately, what began as an opportunity for many led to violence over an issue that threatened to tear the Union into two.
Here is a brief synopsis of Bleeding Kansas:
One of the many settlers at the time was Sarah Robinson. She moved to Kansas with her family because of the potential fertility that the Midwest offered. Opportunities abound, she would write at the time:
"The prairies . . . stretching away miles . . . seem never lonely or wearisome, being gently undulating, or more abruptly rolling; and at the ascent of each new roll of land, the traveler finds himself in the midst of new loveliness. There are also high bluffs . . . [and] ravines run from them to the rivers. . . . These ravines are in many instances pictures of beauty, with tall, graceful trees . . . standing near, while springs of pure cold water gush from the rock.” (Kansas History, 28)
Unfortunately, this sense of opportunity and "national harmony" was interrupted by the conflict within Kansas in 1854. Marauding bands of Missourians began moving into the territory and raided towns such as Lawrence for food and other supplies. And thus began a movement in Lawrence where anti-slavery proponents congregated from New England to halt the tide. Her husband, Charles, would become one of the leaders of this anti-slavery coalition and together, both Sarah and Charles formulated a strong platform. Both organized committees, meetings, elections, and speeches.
I can't imagine what it would have been like to see the sacking of Leavenworth. To have armed men accuse me of being an abolitionist and fire at me. This is something that you don't picture happening in a country like the United States. This is a calamity you envision happens in a far off third world country. It is easy to think I would join with others who would try to resist, it is another to read reports of those who stated that the marauders threatened to burn their homes and hang people from a tree. Would you fight to protect what's yours? Would you join the band so that you're safe? Do you run away and abandon everything you've risked your life to have? These are questions that might be easy to answer now but certainly much more difficult when it's happening right outside your window.
During class, we have talked a lot about slavery. The impact on popular culture at the time and politicians who support or do not support the practice. Uncle Tom's Cabin helped bring the topic into everyday conversation but events such as Bleeding Kansas helped to make it real. Kansas proved that slavery impacted everyone no matter how isolated one might think they can get from the issue. The real tragedy was that this was just a preview of the devastation and violence that would come just five years later with the Battle of Fort Sumter
Quick Bibliography
http://www1.assumption.edu/ahc/Kansas/
http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/2011spring_napier.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdodEnENnUU
Would you fight to protect what's yours? Would you join the band so that you're safe? Do you run away and abandon everything you've risked your life to have? These are questions that might be easy to answer now but certainly much more difficult when it's happening right outside your window.
ReplyDeleteMost of us would never understand or comprehend what the new settlers would feel or do. I have had the opportunity to visit many third world nations and have lived amongst the local population.
We (meaning all of us) have been blessed to be raised during a time period of having to much. I have seen what humans will do to protect their last item of freedom and have seen what one will do to earn money to feed the mouths of their families. There are not limits to what one will do to survive.
On a second note. I believe caning should be allowed amongst our representatives.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that this situation was the beginning of the Civil War. The Missouri Compromise worked at the time and should have been left in place.
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine what it was like in Kansas during this time. Not knowing whether to stand up for your beliefs or lose your life would be a tough decision. As you pointed out, this sounds like something we might see in a third world country. Too bad the federal government messed up by passing the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Indirectly, they caused many unnecessary deaths.
It seems as if people from Missouri wanted things both ways. They wanted to be a western state but at the same time support the slavery of the south. They wanted to be independent from government, but at the same time wanted to vote on a law allowing slavery in a nearby state. Really does not make sense to me.
Life in Kansas at this time was dangerous. People being killed everywhere. I could imagine people and their families being scared to lose their lives. I also see where people hid from the truth and lied about what they believed in to protect themselves from being killed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, why did abolitionists sign off on the Kansas-Nebraska Act, even though it severely undermined their agenda? Why were so many people willing to just up and move to Kansas? These are questions I hope some of y'all could help me out with.
I think that some of the questions that Mike asked were something to really take a step back and think about who you would be as an individual at this time. I don’t believe that I would be able to honestly answer them. If I were faced with a life or death situation for both my family and myself I wouldn’t honestly be able to give an answer without being in the situation at hand. I think that to answer these questions you would have to make that choice based on what you had. If you were single without much to base your choice off of except for moral and ethical reasons or if you had a family or livelihood that was being threatened then your choices would differ drastically.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that I couldn’t believe was that this was Americans attacking Americans. We like to think that this never happens and that we are so great of a country because we never have to face these issues but they are around us every day. The situation in Ferguson, Missouri is a great example of how we are still to this day dealing with issues of race and justice. America is not a perfect nation and it never will be. Some of the ideologies that were present in the Civil War era are still huge issues that we face in today’s society. I would love to go on thinking that I live in a perfect world and to some extents I do when compared to third world countries but in the wide spectrum of things I am living in an indecent world where we do have to face problems with violence and hatred.