Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the

Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the Border

Long before the first shot of the Civil War was fired at Fort Sumter, violence had already erupted along the Missouri-Kansas borderâ€”a recurring cycle of robbery, arson, torture, murder, and revenge. This multifaceted study brings together fifteen scholars to expand our understanding of this vitally important region, the violence that besieged it, and its overall impact on the Civil War.

Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri blends political, military, social, and intellectual history to explain why the regionâ€™s divisiveness was so bitter and persisted for so long. Providing a more nuanced understanding of the conflict, it defines both what united and divided the men and women who lived there and how various political disagreements ultimately disintegrated into violence. By focusing on contested definitions of liberty, citizenship, and freedom, it also explores how civil societies break down and how they are reconstructed when the conflict ends.

The contributors examine this key chapter in American history in all of its complexity. Essays on â€œSlavery and Politics of Law and Order along the Borderâ€ examine how the border region was transformed by the conflict over the status of slavery in Kansas Territory and how the emerging conflict on the Kansas-Missouri border took on a larger national significance. Other essays focus on the transition to total warfare and examine the wartime experiences of the diverse people who populated the region in â€œMaking the Border Bleed.â€ Final articles on â€œThe Border Reconstructed and Rememberedâ€ explore the ways in which border residents rebuilt their society after the war and how they remembered it decades later.

As this penetrating collection shows, only when Missourians and Kansans embraced a common vision for Americaâ€”one based on shared agricultural practices, ideas about economic development, and racial equalityâ€”could citizens on both sides of the border reconcile.
Country USA
Brand University Press of Kansas
Manufacturer University Press of Kansas
Binding Paperback
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
EANs 9780700619290
ReleaseDate 0000-00-00

Country	USA
Brand	University Press of Kansas
Manufacturer	University Press of Kansas
Binding	Paperback
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9780700619290
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the Border

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