Troubled Times the Tumultuous 1850s - Bleeding Kansas

ASU HST 200 (Historical Themes) Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s Bleeding Kansas (Key Notes and Summary) Key Notes - In Kansas in 1855 and 1856, pro- and anti-slavery activists fought over the concept of popular sovereignty. - Pro-slavery Missourians, known as border ruffians, may have rigged elections in Kansas. - The Lecompton Constitution, which Senator Stephen A. Douglas rejected but President Buchanan backed. - Absence of Majority-With assistance from the New England Emigrant Aid Society, farmers in Kansas fought back against pro-slavery influences. - Pro-slavery soldiers attacked anti-slavery settlers in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1856, marking the height of the conflict. - In retaliation, John Brown and his sons attacked pro-slavery residents close to Pottawatomie Creek with violence. - As the violence increased, nearly 150 people lost their lives and a great deal of property was damaged. - Douglas's theory of popular sovereignty was called into question by the events in Kansas, earning the state the moniker "Bleeding Kansas." - Breaking from peaceful techniques, some abolitionists, like Brown, called for violence against slavery. - Charles Sumner's opposition to slavery in Congress drew criticism, which heightened tensions. - By drawing comparisons between prostitution and slavery, Sumner's speech denigrated Senator Andrew Butler. - Preston Brooks's cane attack on Sumner in reprisal garnered a lot of support in the South. Summary Both pro- and anti-slavery groups fought for control of Kansas during the 1855–1856 battle, which was characterized by fraudulent voting by border ruffians and the contentious Lecompton Constitution, which Senator Douglas rejected but President Buchanan backed. With support from the New England Emigrant Aid Society, the majority of Free-Soilers rebelled. This resulted in conflicts that culminated in the Lawrence Massacre, where a pro-slavery posse damaged property, inciting abolitionist John Brown to retaliate by killing pro-slavery settlers and intensifying the bloodshed. The era known as "Bleeding Kansas" demonstrated the fallacy of popular sovereignty and the division surrounding slavery, which ultimately affected the direction of the Civil War. The effects of this period extended beyond Kansas, as evidenced by Preston Brooks' notorious caning of Charles Sumner, which reflected the long-standing hostilities and violent clashes surrounding the slavery issue. Bleeding Kansas Notes Pro- and anti-slavery campaigners descended into Kansas in 1855 and 1856 in an attempt to subvert the territories' popular sovereignty. Border ruffians were pro-slavery Missourians who crossed the border to vote in Kansas; they won the territory elections, perhaps by voter fraud and illegitimate vote counting. (Some estimates have the number of fraudulent votes in Kansas at as high as 60%.) After seizing power, the legislators in favor of slavery met in Lecompton, Kansas, and produced the Lecompton Constitution. President Buchanan backed it, while Illinois Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas was against it. But in Kansas, the majority were Free-Soilers, who chafed under the border ruffians' appropriation of democracy (Figure 14.13). To provide a numerical edge over the border ruffians, several had traveled from New England. These attempts to stop the spread of slavery into Kansas and beyond were partially funded by the New England Emigrant Aid Society, a northern antislavery organization. Conflicts between border ruffians and Free-Soilers, who opposed slavery, reached a breaking point in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1856. The New England Emigrant Aid Society, which supported antislavery settlers in the area and was adamant that Kansas should remain a free-soil state, had established the town. Missourian immigrants who supported slavery were equally adamant that neither "abolitionist tyrants" nor "negro thieves" would rule the region. A posse was summoned by federal marshal Israel Donaldson to assist in making arrests after a number of Lawrence's prominent antislavery individuals were charged with treason in the spring of 1856. He had little issue recruiting Missourians as volunteers. Following the arrival of Douglas County sheriff Samuel Jones and the posse outside Lawrence, the antislavery town's "committee of safety" decided on a nonresistance strategy. Most of the accused people ran away. Donaldson dismissed the posse and without incident took two guys into custody. But Jones stayed in the town; he had been shot during a previous altercation there. On May 21, Jones assumed charge of the posse and rode into town with cutlasses, rifles, revolvers, and bowie knives, all while pretending to have a court order to do so. Two banners, one featuring a crouching tiger and the other an American flag, flew at the front of the parade. Five artillery pieces were carried to the town center at the back, and more banners with the slogans "Southern rights" and "The Superiority of the White Race" followed. The abandoned Free State Hotel was set on fire by the posse, who also destroyed the presses of the two publications, the Kansas Free State and the Herald of Freedom (Figure 14.14). The people of Lawrence were scared but uninjured when the posse eventually left. As they prepared to send reinforcements to Lawrence the following morning, a man by the name of John Brown and his sons learned of the attack. Abolitionist and strict Calvinist, Brown once said, "God had raised him up on purpose to break the jaws of the wicked." Disappointed that the people of Lawrence, Missouri, did not stand up to the "slave hounds," Brown chose to travel to the homes of proslavery settlers near Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas instead of Lawrence. On May 24, 1856, the seven-person party—which included Brown's four sons—arrived and declared themselves the "Northern Army," coming to carry out justice. They stormed into James Doyle's home, a Tennessee man who supported slavery, and marched him and his two boys away, sparing the youngest at Doyle's wife Mahala's pleading request. A hundred yards farther on, John Brown shot Doyle in the forehead as Owen and Salmon Brown used broadswords to kill their hostages. The Browns visited two more cabins before the night was up, and they mercilessly killed two more people who had practiced slavery. None of those put to death had any connection to the attack on Lawrence, nor had they ever held any slaves. Brown's actions set off a fresh round of violent incidents. Over 150 people died and a great deal of property was lost as a result of the pro-slavery "border ruffians" and antislavery forces engaging in guerrilla warfare, which would continue and even intensify during the Civil War. The Kansas events acted as a harsh response to Douglas's popular sovereignty proposal. Some who opposed slavery found a new path as a result of the antislavery activists' use of force, and Kansas gained the nickname "Bleeding Kansas" as a result of the violent battles. Brown and other abolitionists separated from William Lloyd Garrison and other pacifists because they thought the moment had come to use violence to combat slavery. There was more than just Kansas involved in the violent conflicts linked to Bleeding Kansas. Charles Sumner was caned due to the Kansas issue, which was first depicted in the political cartoon Southern Chivalry: Argument vs Clubs at the opening of this chapter (Figure 14.1). Take note of the cartoon's title, which parodies the southern notion of chivalry—the moral code Preston Brooks thought he was abiding by when he attacked Sumner. Sumner went well beyond politics in his "Crime against Kansas" speech, focusing on fellow senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina, a staunch advocate of slavery and Brooks's uncle, and peppering his rhetorical assault with references to sexuality. "Of course he [Butler] has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight," said Sumner, insulting Butler and drawing a comparison between slavery and prostitution. Butler was becoming older, so Brooks, his nephew, went looking for retribution for Sumner's assault on his family and southern pride. He said, "I mean the harlot Slavery." Brooks made it plain that he did not regard Sumner as a gentleman by refusing to issue a challenge to a duel and instead beating him with a cane. Many in the South sent Brooks hundreds more canes to replace the one he had broken attacking Sumner, in celebration of his defense of slavery, southern civilization, and family honor. For a considerable amount of time, Brooks' onslaught rendered Sumner physically and psychologically unable. The people of Massachusetts chose to reelect him despite his wounds.