| This project examines the region of Kansas prior to and then after the organization of the Kansas-Nebraska county. It presents an attractive land once exploited by European empires, fur trade interests and even, in a matter of speaking, by the Jackson administration who saw the region as a perfect reserve for Indian people. As the consequences of victory in the Mexican War unfolded, national leaders determined that the Indian Territory must be opened to settlers and commercial interests.;By 1854, the issue of slavery and its extension had come into prominence. Whether the Kansas Territory would be admitted to the Union was to be determined by the will of the people, presumably the settlers of the territory. Popular sovereignty was ill-advised in practice. The ballot box could not be secured and the slavery advocates like Senator David R. Atchison and Benjamin F. Stringfellow, who exhorted their followers to "take possession of Kansas," did not scruple at tactics which effectively subverted the people's will. However, the pro-slavery interests of Missouri were not of one mind and Atchison and his supporters were at odds with the commercial and professional leaders of western Missouri who saw the opening of the Kansas Territory as an opportunity for profit.;The Leavenworth Town Association was intended to take immediate possession of exceptional land for the purpose of making exceptional profit. The actions of the shareholders of the Leavenworth Town Association put them in conflict with Atchison and others, who then found an additional target for their intemperance other than the antislavery, abolitionist settlers of towns like Lawrence, Kansas.;By end of 1856, resolution of the Indian treaties made possible the clear and free purchase of land in the Kansas Territory. As Kansans became rooted in their land and in their interests, Kansas grew calmer, more stable and finally resistant to the introduction of slavery. The introduction of slavery into Kansas failed not only because of abolitionist sentiment but also because pro-slavery forces in Missouri never possessed the cohesion necessary to bring Kansas into the Union as a slave state. |
