Editing Kansas–Nebraska Act (section)

===Bleeding Kansas===
{{main|Bleeding Kansas}}
[[File: Reynolds's Political Map of the United States 1856.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|This 1856 map shows slave states (gray), free states (pink), [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|U.S. territories]] (green), and Kansas (white).]]

Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent political confrontations in the [[United States]] between 1854 and 1861 involving [[Abolitionism in the United States|anti-slavery]] "[[Free-Stater (Kansas)|Free-Staters]]" and [[pro-slavery]] "[[Border Ruffian]]", or "Southern" elements in [[Kansas]]. At the heart of the conflict was the question of whether [[History of Kansas|Kansas]] would allow or outlaw slavery, and thus enter the Union as a [[Slave state|slave state or a free state]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-09 |title=Bleeding Kansas {{!}} History, Effects, & John Brown {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Bleeding-Kansas-United-States-history |access-date=2023-06-23 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |archive-date=2023-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922162521/https://www.britannica.com/event/Bleeding-Kansas-United-States-history |url-status=live }}</ref>

Pro-slavery settlers came to Kansas mainly from neighboring [[Missouri]], successfully [[vote stacking]] to form a temporary pro-slavery government prior to statehood.<ref name="Alexander2023" /> Their influence in territorial elections was often bolstered by resident Missourians who crossed into Kansas solely for voting in such ballots. They formed groups such as the [[Blue Lodges]] and were dubbed ''[[border ruffians]]'', a term coined by the opponent and abolitionist [[Horace Greeley]]. Abolitionist settlers, known as "[[jayhawkers]]", moved from the East expressly to make Kansas a free state. A clash between the opposing sides was inevitable.<ref>Nicole Etcheson, ''Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era'' (2006)</ref>

Successive territorial governors, usually sympathetic to slavery, attempted to maintain the peace. The territorial capital of [[Lecompton, Kansas|Lecompton]], the target of much agitation, became such a hostile environment for [[Free-Stater (Kansas)|Free-Staters]] that they set up their own, unofficial legislature at [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]].<ref>Thomas Goodrich, ''War to the Knife: Bleeding Kansas, 1854–1861'' (2004)</ref>

[[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] and his sons gained notoriety in the fight against slavery by murdering five pro-slavery farmers with a broadsword in the [[Pottawatomie massacre]]. Brown also helped defend a few dozen Free-State supporters from several hundred angry pro-slavery supporters at [[Osawatomie, Kansas|Osawatomie]].<ref>James C. Malin, ''John Brown and the legend of fifty-six'' (1942)</ref>