Historic
Presidential
Cabinet of 1859:
Bleeding
Kansas
Name: Daniel Malinconico
School: New Egypt High School
Grade: 10th
Representing: Lewis Cass
Page 2 of 6 Federalism is defined as the relationship between the federal and the state governments where they both share certain power for the betterment of the general public (plato.stanford). Some people believe that a strong federal or central government is what the United States should have and leave important decisions should be left up to the individuals that are elected into office. However, there are people who believe that state governments should have the majority of the power. At the conception of the United States the Founding Fathers wrote a Constitution that favored a relatively equal separation of power, with states holding slightly more power, due to the fact that they did not want another monarchy. During the early years of our nation, there were many conflicts questioning the appropriate state‐federal power division. The most contentious of these was the issue of slavery. There were many things that both the federal and state governments to resolve the issue however nothing lasted and tension only grew over the years (collegboard). One of the events that lead to the Civil War which helped eliminate slavery in the United States was an event that was later titled “Bleeding Kansas”. Page 3 of 6 “The Bleeding Kansas” occurred when pro‐slavery voters, primarily from Missouri entered Kansas to compromise the decision whether Kansas would enter the Union as a slave state. At this time the federal government was weak and did not want to take action on slavery due to the fact that they did not want the southern people to revolt. The solution was to try to pass many bills that quieted the issue such as The Compromise of 1850, The Missouri Compromise, The Fugitive Slave Act and the Personal Liberty Act (worldbook). These bills work for a while however, bills either submitted by anti or pro slavery activists nullified them. One of the many ideas proposed to deal with the issue of whether a state should be admitted into the Union as a slave or Free State was the idea of popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is to let a decision be made by the will of the people. The father of modern popular sovereignty is considered to be Lewis Cass (learningtogive). “People may doubt what you say, but they will believe what you do.”
(brainyquote) This is a famous quote by Lewis Cass and it illustrates that Lewis was a man of action and strong beliefs. Lewis Cass was the Secretary of State and was instrumental in creating the Nebraska‐Kansas Act which stated which the issue of slavery would be decided through popular sovereignty. People in Kansas tried popular sovereignty but it ended in disaster due to the fact that the concept Page 4 of 6 was compromised. Voting was simple and basic during the 1800s. All that a person needed to do was present themselves at the voting house and they could vote. There was no identification so a person could be from anywhere and still vote. This is exactly what people did and like so many of the conflicts leading up to the Civil War it ended in bloodshed. The exact number is unknown, however, it is anywhere from fifty people to two hundred people (activoteamerica). Cass believed that the people should decide what they wanted their state to be slave or free. Cass himself was against slavery; however, he did not want to force his own views on anyone else. Cass’s main objective was to save the nation from destruction over the issue of slavery. Popular sovereignty is an idealistic theory. In a perfect world it would work wonders; unfortunately the world is far from perfect. Most people are unlike Cass in the fact that they want other people to believe what they believe instead of deciding for themselves. Cass wanted peace. However, the issue of slavery was so controversial and people so were stubborn that only war could resolve the conflict once and for all. Southerners felt that the North was violating their Constitutional right of owning property when they tried to take away slavery. They believed it was part of their livelihood and even justified it with the Bible. On the other hand, Northerners, found the practice of slavery barbaric and Page 5 of 6 morally wrong. These were the two sides and eventually they ended up battling each other (etymonline). Popular sovereignty did not work back then due to the fact that people could not verify where they lived. Identification is key when voting and without it chaos can ensue. In today’s world popular sovereignty works well for the United States with all of the regulations now implemented in the process. States nearly have all of the power in the nation with only some interference from the federal government. Even though “Bleeding Kansas” was a major contributing factor to the Civil War, it is immensely vital to remember that it was not the only event that lent a hand in the bloodiest war in United State’s history. It did not begin with Bleeding Kansas and it certainly did not end with it. It began before the first colony was organized and lasted until 1867. Even then, racist discrimination did not end until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. The entire Civil War was a result of what happens when human beings disagree and cannot find a peaceful alternative. “Bleeding Kansas” happened, and a person cannot change that but they can help prevent something like this from ever happening again. Page 6 of 6 Work Cited College, Stanford . "Federalism". Standford College. 9‐12‐06 <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/federalism/>. "History of the United States I". Collegeboard. 2‐24‐08 <http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/ex_us1.html>. "From Slavery to Freedom". World Book . 7‐12‐06 <http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight/aajourney/slavery>. Khan, Aliya . "Popular Sovereignty". Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. 5‐13‐07 <http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=50>. BrainyMedia . "Lewis Cass Quotes". Brainy Quote. 8‐13‐05 <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lewis_cass.html>. "Early Voting ". Activ Vote . 2‐1‐04 <http://www.activoteamerica.com/Home2/History_of_Voting/history_of_voting.html>. Walters, Ronald . "The VIEW from the SOUTH". The American Civil War . <http://www.etymonline.com/cw/dixie.htm>.