What event started “Bleeding Kansas”?

Use the chart and your knowledge of social studies to answer the following question.

Causes of the Civil War

Long-term causes:

- Sectional economic and cultural differences

- Debate over expansion of slavery into the territories

- Political compromises failed to ease sectional differences and resolve questions of expanding slavery

· Missouri Compromise (1820)
· Compromise of 1850
· Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

- Laws increased sectional tension

· Fugitive Slave Act (1850)
· Dred Scott decision
· Tariff policy

- Growth of the anti-slavery movement

- Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Short-term causes:

- Kansas-Nebraska Act splits political parties

- Breakdown of the party system

- Lincoln elected president

- South Carolina secedes

A. Border ruffians raided the anti-slavery town of Lawrence, Kansas.

B. Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner unconscious with a cane.

C. Charles Sumner delivered a speech called “The Crime Against Kansas.”

D. John Brown carried out midnight executions of pro-slavery settlers.

Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent confrontations in the United States, which took place between 1854 and 1861. The main reason for this confrontation was the debate over the legality of slavery in Kansas. The question of whether Kansas would allow or outlaw slavery was important, as Kansas was trying to enter the Union, and this could potentially threaten the balance of power in the country.