"Bleeding Kansas": When Voting Leads to a Mini-Civil War

Target: I can explain how the "democratic" idea of "popular sovereignty" (letting people vote) led to the violence of "Bleeding Kansas" by comparing a law to a first-hand account.

Key Vocabulary

• Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): The law that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and, most importantly, destroyed the Missouri Compromise.

• Popular Sovereignty: The idea that the settlers living in a territory should get to vote to decide if it would become a free state or a slave state.

• Bleeding Kansas: The nickname for the period of violence (a "mini-civil war") in the 1850s between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in the Kansas territory.

• Border Ruffian: Pro-slavery activists (mostly from the neighboring slave state of Missouri) who crossed into Kansas to vote illegally and use violence.

• Free-Soiler: Anti-slavery settlers who moved to Kansas to try and make it a free state.

Part 1: Do Now (5 minutes)

Directions: Read the prompt below and write a 5-8 sentence response.

Prompt: Think about a time you had to vote on something important in a group (like in a class, with friends, or on a team). What happens when one side feels the vote was "unfair" or "rigged"? In a detailed paragraph, describe what that conflict looks like and how people react.

Sentence Starter: When a vote feels "unfair," people react by... This can cause a lot of conflict, such as... I think people get so upset because...

Part 2: Analyzing the Sources

Directions: Analyze the two documents below and then answer the questions that follow.

Source 1: The Kansas-Nebraska Act (Adapted Excerpt, 1854)

Original Text	Simplified Text
...It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way...	The purpose of this law is not for Congress to force slavery on any new territory, or to ban it. The goal is to let the people who live there be perfectly free to vote and decide on the issue for themselves.
...That all questions about the legality of slavery in the Territory... shall be left to the decision of the people residing therein...	All questions about slavery must be left up to the decision of the people who actually live there.

Source 2: Letter from a Kansas Settler, Julia Louisa Lovejoy (Adapted Excerpt, 1855)

Original Text	Simplified Text
Dear Friends, I have been in Kansas... "Border ruffians" of Missouri (pro-slavery men) have... passed into our Territory, and taken the ballot-boxes from the legal voters, and driven them from the polls. They have stuffed the ballot-boxes with illegal, pro-slavery votes.	Dear Friends, I am in Kansas... Pro-slavery men from Missouri, called "Border Ruffians," have been crossing into our territory, stealing the ballot-boxes, and forcing legal voters away from the polls. They have stuffed the boxes with fake, pro-slavery votes.
Because of this, our free-soilers (anti-slavery people) have been denied all law. We must now submit to their unjust rule... They have burned our houses, and laid our fields desolate. They threaten our men with death... We are in a state of civil war.	Because of this, the anti-slavery people have no legal protection. We have to give in to their unfair rules... They have burned our homes and destroyed our farms. They are threatening to kill our men. This is a civil war.
We need help. We need men. We need guns. We need money... Will our friends in the East hear our cry?	We need help. We need people, guns, and money. Will anyone back East listen to us?

Analysis Questions

Directions: Answer questions 1-2 on your own. Then, work with a partner to answer question 3.

1. On paper, why does the Kansas-Nebraska Act (Source 1) sound like a fair and democratic idea?

Sentence Starter: The law sounds fair because it says it will "leave the people perfectly free" to...

2. According to Julia Lovejoy's letter (Source 2), what actually happened during the vote in Kansas?

Sentence Starter: What actually happened was that "Border Ruffians" from Missouri... and...

3. (Work with your partner) Compare Source 1 (the fair law) with Source 2 (the violent reality). Why did "popular sovereignty" fail and lead to violence?

Sentence Starter: Popular sovereignty failed because the "fair vote" described in Source 1... but in reality, as Source 2 shows... This led to violence because...

Part 3: Exit Ticket (5 minutes)

Directions: Answer the following prompt in a complete paragraph (5-8 sentences).

Prompt: Using evidence from both Source 1 (the law) and Source 2 (the letter), answer the Essential Question: How did the "democratic" idea of "popular sovereignty" lead to the violence of "Bleeding Kansas"?

Sentence Starter: The idea of "popular sovereignty" in Source 1 was that people would... However, this led to violence because... As Source 2 explains, instead of a fair vote... This conflict between the idea of a fair vote and the reality of... turned Kansas into a "state of civil war."