What is bleeding Kansas and how did it influence the civil war?

Answer 1

Bleeding Kansas was a series of events that occurred in Kansas during the years 1853 and 1861.

Following the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the unorganized territory of Nebraska was to be divided into two separate states; Kansas and Nebraska. They would choose to be admitted to the Union as a slave or free state through popular sovereignty (the people of the state get to vote on their state's position).

Nebraska was far enough North it was almost certain that it would be admitted as a free state, but Kansas was right next to the slave state of Missouri, so its fate was more uncertain.

In response, Northerners began to enter Kansas in order to cast their votes to get Kansas admitted as a free state. Eli Thayer was one of the first to organize a group of people, known as the New England Emigrant Aid Company, to travel to Kansas. By mid-summer 1855, there were almost 1,200 New England citizens in Kansas. Southerners responded by advancing towards Kansas as well.

During the elections to decide Kansas' fate, the majority of the voters were unregistered (as they were out of state, some as far as Canada). The proslavery forces won several elections and the Statutes of Kansas were established, which prohibited any talk of antislavery. The Free Soil men retaliated by setting up their own legislature in the state. So here's the picture now: in Kansas, there were TWO governments. One was illegal, the other was fraudulent (as people were voting in a state in which they were even residents). President Pierce only recognized the proslavery government.

Violence was prevalent through the territory, mostly small scale attacks on people, such as John Brown's massacre of five proslavery men, and when proslavery advocates burned several antislavery buildings.

This was extremely instrumental in leading to the Civil War as it was the first violent sectional conflict between the nation's two clear parties, the North and the South. President Pierce's inaction during the Bleeding Kansas situation would have also shown the Union's unwillingness or lack of power to solve problems within the country, which could have lead to several of the states that seceded's choice to secede.

Answer 2

The significance of Bleeding Kansas was that it deepened the divide between the North and South regarding slavery. Bleeding Kansas resulted in Kansas entering the Union as a free state.