Editing History of Missouri (section)

====Bleeding Kansas 1854-1857 ====
{{Main|Bleeding Kansas}}
In 1854 Illinois Senator [[Stephen Douglas]] proposed a bill organizing the Kansas and Nebraska territories and allowing the people of the territories to decide through [[popular sovereignty]] whether to permit slavery.<ref name="meyer 1982 334">Meyer (1982), 334.</ref> The bill, known as the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]], passed both houses and was signed by [[Franklin Pierce]] on May 30.<ref name="meyer 1982 334" /> Missouri Democrats and Whigs alike supported the bill, except for Thomas Hart Benton and a few of his key supporters.<ref name="meyer 1982 334" /> Several Missouri politicians, including Senator [[David R. Atchison]] and former Attorney General [[Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow (1816–1891)|B.F. Stringfellow]], encouraged Missourians to settle in the newly opened lands in 1854 as a bulwark against antislavery settlers arriving from New England.<ref name="meyer 1982 335">Meyer (1982), 335.</ref> As early as June 1854, suggestions were made by proslavery groups that only armed resistance would prevent the antislavery forces from overtaking Kansas.<ref name="meyer 1982 335" />

Although the territorial governor of Kansas had declared that only Kansas residents be permitted to vote, some 1,700 Missourians crossed the border in November 1854 to vote in the Congressional election.<ref name="meyer 1982 336">Meyer (1982), 336.</ref> Although only 2,800 ballots were cast, it is likely the proslavery candidate would have been elected without the Missourians' voter fraud.<ref name="meyer 1982 336" /> In the March 1855 election to select the territorial legislature, more than 4,000 Missourians entered Kansas to cast ballots; even the University of Missouri sent a student delegate to cast in favor of slavery.<ref name="meyer 1982 336" /> According to the polls, 6,307 persons had voted, although Kansas had at the time only 2,095 eligible voters.<ref name="meyer 1982 337">Meyer (1982), 337.</ref>

By 1855 antislavery immigrants began arriving in force to Kansas, and upon arrival they refused to acknowledge the fraudulently elected proslavery government.<ref name="meyer 1982 338">Meyer (1982), 338.</ref> The antislavery groups elected their own government, with its capital at [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]] by December 1855; however, the proslavery government at [[Lecompton, Kansas|Lecompton]] remained the legally recognized government of the state.<ref name="meyer 1982 338" /> Determined to hold the state for slavery, Missourians led by Senator Atchison formed armed bands to resist further immigration to Kansas.<ref name="meyer 1982 339">Meyer (1982), 339.</ref> Known as [[Border Ruffians]], the groups began stopping steamboats heading through Missouri to Kansas, searching them, and removing weapons they found.<ref name="meyer 1982 339" /> In December 1855, a band of Missourians from [[Clay County, Missouri|Clay County]] seized weapons and ammunition from the federal arsenal at [[Liberty, Missouri]]; federal officials successfully obtained the return of most of the weapons, but they made no arrests in the incident.<ref name="meyer 1982 339" />

During the years of 1855 and 1856, tensions erupted into open warfare between proslavery and antislavery forces along the border.<ref name="meyer 1982 340">Meyer (1982), 340.</ref> In May 1856, a group of Missourians [[Sacking of Lawrence|sacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas]]; the town's hotel, printing press, and several houses were destroyed, and several Kansans were killed.<ref name="meyer 1982 340" /> In response to the sacking, a group of Missouri settlers were attacked and [[Pottawatomie massacre|massacred at Pottawatomie Creek]] in Kansas by John Brown and his group of abolitionists.<ref name="meyer 1982 340" /> In response to the killing, a group of Missourians known as the Westport Sharpshooters attempted to capture Brown, but they were themselves captured by him.<ref name="meyer 1982 340" /> In August 1856, however, another group of proslavery Missourians invaded Kansas and burned the town of Ossawotamie, which was home to Brown's headquarters.<ref name="meyer 1982 340" />

By 1857 a substantial population of antislavery settlers had arrived in Kansas, and their votes overwhelmed those of the proslavery Missourians who crossed the border for the October territorial election.<ref name="meyer 1982 340" /> Despite the victory of the antislavery forces at the ballot box, violence continued along the border of Missouri and Kansas.<ref name="meyer 1982 340" /> In several cases, antislavery groups from Kansas, known as [[Jayhawkers]], invaded Missouri and attacked Missouri proslavery settlements in [[Bates County, Missouri|Bates]], [[Barton County, Missouri|Barton]], [[Cass County, Missouri|Cass]], and [[Vernon County, Missouri|Vernon]] counties.<ref name="meyer 1982 340" /> Intermittent attacks continued on both sides even after the Civil War.<ref name="meyer 1982 340" /><ref>Daniel E. Sutherland, "Sideshow No Longer: A Historiographical Review of the Guerrilla War." ''Civil War History'' (2000) 46#1 pp: 5–23. [http://wsw.uga.edu/files/CW_Guerrilla_Historiography.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820202607/http://wsw.uga.edu/files/CW_Guerrilla_Historiography.pdf |date=August 20, 2013 }}</ref>