Kansas Contested: The Pre-Civil War Clash of Proslavery and Free-Soil Strategies

In the fateful years leading up to the American Civil War, the two sides of the slavery question faced off in the newly organized Kansas Territory. The question was, "Would Kansas be admitted as a free state, and block the expansion of slavery to the west, or would it be a slave state and open the western territories to slavery?" The question consumed the nation, and caused a civil war to erupt in Kansas. Kansas became the focus of competing strategies for gaining victory in this sectional ...