Origins of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

•     It started with wheat, and happened because of railroads.

•     Few settlers had wanted to try living on the Great Plains, with little access to water sources, few trees, and many hardships.

Origins of the Kansas-Nebraska Act: So, There Were Railroads Involved?

•     MS-born Jefferson Davis, Pierce’s political mentor and the Sec. of War, advocated the southern route, which would have brought immense wealth to the South.

•     To help obtain the best route, the Pierce administration bought a parcel of land from Mexico for

$10 million (the Gadsden Purchase).

Origins of the Kansas-Nebraska Act: Presenting Senator Stephen Douglas (D-IL)

•     Douglas speculated in western real estate, and wanted the route to go through territory that would make him and a lot of his friends very wealthy.

•     To induce settlers to move to the largely deserted federal lands, he introduced the initial act in Jan. 1854.

•     Defeated previously, this bill offered a new twist: “popular sovereignty.”

•     Residents of the proposed states would decide if the new state was to be free or slave.

•     The concept nullified the Missouri Compromise line.

•     Slaveholders from MO would likely flock to settle Kansas; he then inserted language to create the Nebraska Territory for likely settlers from Iowa.

The Kansas- Nebraska Act

•     2/3 of Northern congressmen opposed the bill, but it still passed.

•     While Pierce was reluctant to repeal the MO Compromise, after Congress passed the bill, he signed it in May 1854.

•     Douglas went on a national speaking tour to promote the plan, but was heckled and harassed at each stop.

Settlers Move to Kansas

•     Settlers began to pour in once KS was opened.

•     Would-be settlers were sponsored by anti- and pro-slavery groups in New England and the South, respectively.

•     Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, an abolitionist minister, raised funds to buy rifles for the free-soilers. The guns became known as “Beecher’s Bibles.”

•     By the fall of 1854, the strong majority of settlers were free-soilers.

Election Time: Kansas, 1854

•     Rumors in the South circulated that 30,000 anti-slavery supporters were on their way to influence the Nov. 1854 election.

•     Legally, 1500 KS men were registered to vote for the lone territorial representative to Congress.

•     Thousands of armed pro-slavery supporters, mostly from MO, swarmed over the border to vote.

•     Called “border ruffians”

•     In one polling location, 600 men voted, despite the fact only 20 were registered to do so.

•     In total, 6,000 votes were cast.

•     Elections for the territorial legislature in March, 1865, were similarly affected.

Trouble Brewing in Kansas

•     In 1855, Pres. Pierce formally recognized the territorial government of Kansas.

•     Used the laws of MO as their base.

•     Public office and jury service were limited to men with noticeable proslavery feelings.

•     Publicly denying the right to have slaves was punishable by 5 years in prison.

•     Helping an escaped slave was punishable by death.

•     Inciting slave rebellions was punishable by death.

Two Governments, One Big Problem

•     The pro-slavery government was established in Lecompton, KS, on the banks of the Missouri River.

•     Free-Soilers, outraged at the federally-endorsed, “stolen” election, established their own at Topeka.

•     The free state government had two main factions, moderates and fanatics

•     The moderate-dominated government banned all blacks from settling in Kansas.