Bleeding Kansas - what? Reactions from pro and anti-slavery groups, John Brown.

Key Points:

1. Background:
   • The Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had prohibited slavery in that part of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°30′ parallel.
   • The act led to a rush of both pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers into Kansas, each group hoping to influence the decision on slavery.
2. Pro-Slavery Reactions:
   • Pro-slavery advocates, often referred to as “Border Ruffians,” came from neighboring Missouri to vote illegally in Kansas elections and to intimidate anti-slavery settlers.
   • They established a pro-slavery government in Lecompton, which was recognized by President Franklin Pierce.
   • Violence erupted as pro-slavery forces attacked anti-slavery settlements, leading to significant bloodshed.
3. Anti-Slavery Reactions:
   • Anti-slavery settlers, known as “Free-Staters,” formed their own government in Topeka, rejecting the pro-slavery government.
   • They organized resistance against pro-slavery forces, leading to violent confrontations, including the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas, by pro-slavery forces in 1856.
   • The anti-slavery movement gained support from abolitionists across the North, who viewed the violence in Kansas as a moral crisis.
4. John Brown:
   • John Brown was a radical abolitionist who believed in using violence to end slavery.
   • In response to the violence against anti-slavery settlers, Brown and his followers carried out a retaliatory attack known as the Pottawatomie Massacre in May 1856, where they killed five pro-slavery settlers.
   • Brown’s actions made him a controversial figure; he was hailed as a hero by some abolitionists and vilified by pro-slavery advocates.
   • His radical approach to abolitionism would later culminate in his raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, which aimed to incite a slave rebellion.

Conclusion: