On May 22, 1856, the day following the attack upon Lawrence, Charles Sumner was struck down in the United States Senate on account of a speech made in defense of the rights of Kansas settlers.The two events, which were reported at the same time in the daily press, furnished the key-note to the presidential campaign of that year, for nominating conventions followed in a few days and "bleeding Kansas" was the all-absorbing issue.In spite of the destruction of property in Lawrence and the arrest of the leaders of the free-state party, Kansas had not been plunged into a state of civil war.The free-state party had fired no hostile shot.Governor Robinson and his associates still relied upon public opinion and they accepted the wanton attack upon Lawrence as the best assurance that they would yet win their cause by legal means.
A change, however, soon took place which is associated with the entrance of John Brown into the history of Kansas.Brown and his sons were living at Osawatomie, some thirty miles south of Lawrence.They were present at the Wakarusa War in December, 1855, and were on their way to the defense of Lawrence on May 21, 1856, when they were informed that the town had been destroyed.
Three days after this event Brown and his sons with two or three others made a midnight raid upon their pro-slavery neighbors living in the Pottawatomie valley and slew five men.The authors of this deed were not certainly known until the publication of a confession of one of the party in 1879, twenty years after the chief actor had won the reputation of a martyr to the cause of liberty.The Browns, however, were suspected at the time;warrants were out for their arrest; and their homes were destroyed.
For more than three months after this incident, Kansas was in a state of war; in fact, two distinct varieties of warfare were carried on.Publicly organized companies on both sides engaged in acts of attack and defense, while at the same time irresponsible secret bands were busy in violent reprisals, in plunder and assassination.In both of these forms of warfare, the free-state men proved themselves fully equal to their opponents, and Governor Shannon was entirely unable to cope with the situation.
It is estimated that two hundred men were slain and two million dollars' worth of property was destroyed.
The state of affairs in Kansas served to win many Northern Democrats to the support of the Republicans.The Administration at Washington was held responsible for the violence and bloodshed.The Democratic leaders in the political campaign, determined now upon a complete change in the Government of the Territory, appointed J.W.Geary as Governor and placed General Smith in charge of the troops.The new incumbents, both from Pennsylvania, entered upon their labors early in September, and before the October state elections Geary was able to report that peace reigned throughout the Territory.A prompt reaction in favor of the Democrats followed.Buchanan, their presidential candidate, rejoiced in the fact that order had been restored by two citizens of his own State.It was now very generally conceded that Kansas would become a free State, and intimate associates of Buchanan assured the public that he was himself of that opinion and that if elected he would insure to the free-state party evenhanded justice.Thousands of voters were thus won to Buchanan's support.There was a general distrust of the Republican candidate as a man lacking political experience, and a strong conservative reaction against the idea of electing a President by the votes of only one section of the country.At the election in November, Buchanan received a majority of sixty of the electoral votes over Fremont, but in the popular vote he fell short of a majority by nearly 400,000.Fillmore, candidate of the Whig and the American parties, received 874,000 votes.
There was still profound distrust of the administration of the Territory of Kansas, and the free-state settlers refused to vote at the election set for the choosing of a new territorial Legislature in October.The result was another pro-slavery assembly.Governor Geary, however, determined to secure and enforce just treatment of both parties.He was at once brought into violent conflict with the Legislature in an experience which was almost an exact counterpart of that of Governor Reeder; and Washington did not support his efforts to secure fair dealings.Apro-slavery deputation visited President Pierce in February, 1857, and returned with the assurance that Governor Geary would be removed.Without waiting for the President to act, Geary resigned in disgust on the 4th of March.Of the three Governors whom President Pierce appointed, two became active supporters of the free-state party and a third, Governor Shannon, fled from the territory in mortal terror lest he should be slain by members of the party which he had tried to serve.
