1855-1856: Rival Legislatures established in territorial Kansas

• Lecompton: Slave
• Topeka/Lawrence: Free State (Jayhawk)

November 1855: “Battle” of the Wakarusa River

May 19-20, 1856: Senator Charles Sumner’s two-day “Crime Against Kansas” speech

May 21, 1856: The Sack of Lawrence

May 22, 1856: Brooks canes Sumner

Summer 1856: Guerilla action between Pukes and Jayhawkers; most famous is John Brown’s “Army of the North”

August 30, 1856: Frederick Brown is killed

November 1856: Democrat James Buchanan wins the presidency

Spring 1857: Jayhawkers outnumber Pukes, 2 to 1, in Kansas

Fall 1857/Winter 1858: “Lecompton Swindle”

1857: George Fitzhugh’s CANNIBALS ALL released; Hinton Rowan Helper’s IMPENDING CRISIS OF THE SOUTH

1858: Kansans reject Buchanan Bribe, 10 to 1

1858-1859 Congressional Session deals with three issues: 1) Cuba; 2) Homestead Act; 3) reopening the International Slave Trade