A fraudulent referendum on the Lecompton Constitution occurs in Kansas Territory, with pro-slavery forces manipulating the process to attempt forcing slavery on Kansas despite the Free-State majority. Free-State settlers refuse to participate in the June 1857 election for constitutional convention …
James BuchananStephen A. DouglasPro-slavery delegatesBorder RuffiansFree-State settlerslecompton-constitutionelectoral-fraudslavery-expansionbleeding-kansasinstitutional-corruption+1 more
On the night of May 24-25, 1856, radical abolitionist John Brown, five of his sons, and three other associates murder five pro-slavery men at three different cabins along Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas Territory. The victims—James P. Doyle and his sons William and Drury, William Sherman, and Allen …
John BrownPottawatomie RiflesPro-slavery settlersFree-State settlersbleeding-kansaspolitical-violenceslavery-conflictterritorial-violencepottawatomie-massacre
Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, enters the Senate chamber and beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts nearly to death with a metal-topped cane, striking him repeatedly on the head while Sumner attempts futilely to protect himself. The attack follows …
Preston BrooksCharles SumnerAndrew ButlerU.S. SenateU.S. House of Representativespolitical-violenceslave-powerinstitutional-corruptionbleeding-kansassenate-violence
Congress passes and President Franklin Pierce signs the Kansas-Nebraska Act, creating the territories of Kansas and Nebraska while repealing the Missouri Compromise’s prohibition on slavery north of the 36°30’ parallel. The Act, drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, …
Stephen A. DouglasFranklin PierceU.S. CongressPro-slavery Border RuffiansFree-State settlerskansas-nebraska-actslavery-expansionpopular-sovereigntybleeding-kansaslegislative-corruption+1 more