Kansas Territory and Related Topics

1856 map showing slave states (gray), free states (pink), and territories (green) in the United States, with the Kansas Territory in center (white)

Bleeding Kansas

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Preston Brooks attacking Charles Sumner in the U.S. Senate in 1856

Tragic Prelude, in the Kansas State Capitol

Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859.

Missouri Compromise line (36°30′ parallel) in dark blue, 1820. Territory above this line would be reserved for free states, and below, slave states

Kansas–Nebraska Act

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The United States after the Compromise of 1850 and the Gadsden Purchase. Douglas sought to organize parts of the area labeled as "Unorganized territory."

Stephen A. Douglas – "The great principle of self-government is at stake, and surely the people of this country are never going to decide that the principle upon which our whole republican system rests is vicious and wrong."

Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler. An 1854 cartoon depicts a giant free soiler being held down by James Buchanan and Lewis Cass, standing on the Democratic platform of making slave states out of "Kansas," "Cuba," and "Central America". Franklin Pierce also holds down the giant's beard, as Stephen A. Douglas shoves a black man down his throat.

Sam Houston from Texas was one of the few southern opponents of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. In the debate, he urged, "Maintain the Missouri Compromise! Stir not up agitation! Give us peace!"

Alexander Stephens from Georgia – "Nebraska is through the House. I took the reins in my hand, applied the whip and spur, and brought the 'wagon' out at eleven o'clock P.M. Glory enough for one day."

Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri – "What is the excuse for all this turmoil and mischief? We are told it is to keep the question of slavery out of Congress! Great God! It was out of Congress, completely, entirely, and forever out of Congress, unless Congress dragged it in by breaking down the sacred laws which settled it!"

Charles Sumner on Douglas – "Alas! too often those principles which give consistency, individuality, and form to the Northern character, which renders it staunch, strong, and seaworthy, which bind it together as with iron, are drawn out, one by one, like the bolts of the ill-fitted vessel, and from the miserable, loosened fragments is formed that human anomaly—a Northern man with Southern principles. Sir, no such man can speak for the North."

This 1856 map shows slave states (gray), free states (pink), U.S. territories (green), and Kansas (white)

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

Kansas

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State in the Midwestern United States.

Samuel Seymour's 1819 illustration of a Kansa lodge and dance is the oldest drawing known to have been done in Kansas.

Köppen climate types of Kansas, using 1991-2020 climate normals.

Reverend Charles Sheldon, Topeka resident and coiner of the phrase "What would Jesus do?"

Pittsburg State University's Veteran's Memorial

Farmland and the Great Plains in central Kansas

Cathedral of the Plains, a Roman Catholic Church Minor Basilica

Charles Curtis (R) was born near Topeka and served as a State Legislator, Congressman and Senator, before becoming Vice President (1929-33). He is the only Native American elected to the Executive Branch (he was born into the Kaw Nation).

The Plaza Cinema in Ottawa is the oldest operating movie theater in the world.

Allen Fieldhouse at University of Kansas in Lawrence

Tyler Field in Eck Stadium at Wichita State University in Wichita

The Kansas–Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory, and opening the area to broader settlement by whites.

Colorado

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State in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States.

Ruins of Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde National Park. Photo by Gustaf Nordenskiöld, 1891

Great Kiva at Chimney Rock in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado. It is said to have been built by the Ancient Pueblo peoples.

The Spanish discovering the Colorado River, namesake of the state, in 1540, by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau. García López de Cárdenas can be seen overlooking the Grand Canyon.

Map of the Mexican Cession, with the white representing the territory the United States received from Mexico (plus land ceded to the Republic of Texas) after the Mexican–American War. Well over half of Colorado was received during this treaty.

The territories of New Mexico, Utah, Kansas, and Nebraska before the creation of the Territory of Colorado

Mount of the Holy Cross, photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1874

The Georgetown Loop of the Colorado Central Railroad as photographed by William Henry Jackson in 1899

Three 10th Mountain Division skitroopers above Camp Hale in February 1944.

The arid high plains in Southeastern Colorado

Tenmile Range and Dillon Reservoir near Breckenridge

Grays Peak at 4352 m is the highest point on the Continental Divide in North America

The high desert lands that make up the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado

Maroon Bells, at 14163 ft, is part of White River National Forest and a tourist destination

The Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction is made up of high desert canyons and sandstone rock formations

Köppen climate types of Colorado, using 1991-2020 climate normals.

Breckenridge naturalist Edwin Carter with a mounted gray wolf killed in the Colorado Rockies, ca. 1890–1900.

An enlargeable map of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado

An enlargeable map of the 17 core-based statistical areas of Colorado

Denver Energy Center lies in the Denver financial district along 17th Street, known as the Wall Street of the West

The Colorado Rockies baseball club at Coors Field

Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, home field of the Denver Broncos and the Denver Outlaws

Ball Arena, home of the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Avalanche, and the Colorado Mammoth

Dick's Sporting Goods Park, home of the Colorado Rapids

The main terminal of Denver International Airport evokes the peaks of the Front Range.

The westbound and eastbound California Zephyrs meet in the Glenwood Canyon.

The Southern Ute Tribal Administration Building

The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Office Complex

Lowry Pueblo in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Spruce Tree House in Mesa Verde National Park

In 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas persuaded the U.S. Congress to divide the unorganized territory east of the Continental Divide into two new organized territories, the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska, and an unorganized southern region known as the Indian territory.

Colorado Territory

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Organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado.

East of the Continental Divide, the new territory included the western portion of the Kansas Territory, as well as some of the southwestern Nebraska Territory, and a small parcel of the northeastern New Mexico Territory.

Map showing North American territorial boundaries leading up to the American Revolution and the founding of the United States: British claims are indicated in red and pink, while Spanish claims are in orange and yellow.

Historic regions of the United States

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The territory of the United States and its overseas possessions has evolved over time, from the colonial era to the present day.

Map showing mid 17th century claims and land grant boundaries. Some colonies seen here are: Nova Scotia (NSc), Territory of Sagadahock (TS), First Province of Maine (Me), New Hampshire (NH), Plymouth (PC), Massachusetts Bay (MBC), New Netherland (NN), New Sweden (NSw), and Lord Baltimore's Land (Md; Maryland)

New World settlements of The Netherlands, collectively called New Netherland

French settlements and forts in the so-called Illinois Country, 1763, which encompassed parts of the modern day states of Illinois, Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky)

A 1775 map of the German Coast, a historical region of present-day Louisiana located above New Orleans on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River

Vandalia was the name of a proposed British colony located south of the Ohio River, primarily in what is now the U.S. states of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky

A proposal for the creation of Westsylvania was largely deterred by the Revolutionary War

National Atlas map of United States territorial acquisitions

Seward's Folly. The controversial purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 turned out to be a great deal for the U.S. when the area proved to contain a treasure trove of natural resources.

The Oregon Country. The dispute over Oregon, between Britain and the U.S., led to an uneasy, parallel governing of the territory for almost 30 years.

Progression of the Indian Territory separation from the Arkansaw Territory, 1819–1836

The first state cessions. The 13 original states ceded their western claims to the federal government, allowing for the creation of the country's first western territories and states.

The Northwest Territory was a large and (at times) ill-defined territory ceded by Great Britain to the U.S. at the end of the Revolutionary War. British troops still occupied parts of the area well past 1800.

United States territorial expansion since 1803, maps by William R. Shepherd (1923)

Census Bureau map depicting territorial acquisitions and effective dates of statehood

The Ohio Country, indicating battle sites between settlers and Native American Tribes, 1775–1794

Selected tract purchases of western New York State

Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, along with No Man's Land (also known as the Oklahoma Panhandle). The division of the two territories is shown with a heavy purple line. Together, these three areas would become the State of Oklahoma in 1907.

Pennsylvania land purchases from Native Americans

Post-Civil War military districts were set up to aid in the repatriation process of the southern states during Reconstruction.

The Panama Canal Zone was once a territory of the United States

The boundaries of the State of Deseret, as proposed in 1849

Animated map of secession and repatriation of the Confederacy, 1860–1870

The proposed State of Superior. The red areas show the counties of the Upper Peninsula that are generally accepted as being part of the proposed state. The pink areas show the counties of the "expanded" proposal.

The failed State of Lincoln, with its proposed 1868 boundaries

The Philippines was a commonwealth of the United States, 1935–1946

Worldwide location of current U.S. insular areas:

Territory of Kansas (1854–1861) preceded by unorganized territory of the original Louisiana Purchase. Part became the modern State of Kansas; the western part became part of the Colorado Territory.

New England Emigrant Aid Company

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Transportation company founded in Boston, Massachusetts by activist Eli Thayer in the wake of the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which allowed the population of Kansas Territory to choose whether slavery would be legal.

The Company's ultimate purpose was to transport anti-slavery immigrants into the Kansas Territory.

Manhattan, Kansas

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City and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County.

This 1819 illustration of a Kansa lodge at the current location of Manhattan is the oldest drawing known to be made in Kansas.

Blue Mont Central College building, built in 1859

Rocky Ford spillway fishing area on the Big Blue River (2021)

The 2008 tornado damaged an industrial area on the west side of Manhattan before hitting the KSU campus

The Tuttle Creek Spillway Downstream Flooding after the emergency gates were opened in July 1993

Seven Dolors Catholic Church, added to the U.S. Register of Historic Places in 1995

Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium seats 50,000 spectators

Manhattan Regional Airport New Terminal (2021)

The former Union Pacific passenger depot has been repurposed as an event space

In March 1855, a group of New England Free-Staters traveled to Kansas Territory under the auspices of the New England Emigrant Aid Company to found a Free-State town.

Border ruffian

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Ferrying Missouri voters [across the Missouri River] to the Kansas shore, by Gilbert Gaul

Border ruffians, with a cannon, marching on Lawrence, Kansas

Two unidentified border ruffians with swords

Liberty, the fair maid of Kansas, in the hands of the border ruffians, c. 1856

Border ruffians were proslavery raiders, crossing from the slave state of Missouri into the Kansas Territory, to help ensure Kansas entered the Union as a slave state.

1855 Free-State poster in Kansas Territory, calling for action against slavery supporters and slavery-supporting laws.

Free-Stater (Kansas)

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Free-Staters was the name given to settlers in Kansas Territory during the "Bleeding Kansas" period in the 1850s who opposed the expansion of slavery.

A report on Kansas Territory

27 related topics with Alpha

Bleeding Kansas

Kansas–Nebraska Act

Kansas

Colorado

Colorado Territory

Historic regions of the United States

New England Emigrant Aid Company

Manhattan, Kansas

Border ruffian

Free-Stater (Kansas)