Slavery in Kansas remained small-scale and mainly at the household level. Since cotton never had a significant role in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

' early agrarian economy, there were a few plantations and slaves along the Missouri River during the pre-Territorial period. Starting with the organization of

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

in 1854, there was a state-level civil war over slavery which inhibited the development of the institution of slavery.

History

The number of slaves in Kansas Territory was estimated at 200. Men were engaged as farm hands, and women and children were employed in domestic work. The presence of slaveowners in Kansas, particularly slaveowners who had migrated from the neighboring

slave state In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were not. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

in order to guarantee the future state's entry into the Union as a slave state, served as a motivating factor for Northern

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

movements to move into the Kansas territory in order to prevent such efforts from succeeding. This resulted in the armed conflict known as

Bleeding Kansas 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. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

, a prelude to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The slavery ceased to exist in Kansas after it was admitted in the Union on January 29, 1861. The slavery ceased to exist in Kansas after it was admitted in the Union on January 29, 1861, following the Territorial Legislature's bill that was passed on February 23, 1860 over the governor's veto to abolish the slavery. In October 1862, the

1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was the first black regiment to be organized in a northern state and the first black unit to see combat during the Ci ...

engaged the Confederate forces at Island Mound, in

Bates County, Missouri Bates County is a county located in the west central part of the U.S. state of Missouri, two counties south of the Missouri River and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,042. Its county sea ...

.Mutti Burke, Diane
Slavery on the Western Border: Missouri’s Slave System and its Collapse during the Civil War
''Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865''.

References

External links

{{Authority control History of racism in Kansas KS

History

References

Further reading

External links