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\y *.'i-Ur*•f:j*■• • » )*ftfi1866 ~ the year after the war end*' ed — a fifth of Mississippi’s state budget was spent; on artificial limbs — roughly the same proportion Kansas spends on pilblil schools.The war also tnade the national government much more prominent in everyday lift^^fecht said. The total federal budget in 1845 was $28 million. In I860, it was $63 million, and at the conflict's peak in 1864, federal spending topped $865 million.“And once government grows, it doesn't shrink,” Specht said, explaining that before the war, people's expectations of the federal government largely were limited to running the postal service, fighting Indians, collecting tariffs and building lighthouses.“Other than that, people looked to their states for government, she said.The change in the role of the national government after the war is reflected even in the language, she said.“Before the war, people referred to the United States, saying, ‘The United States are.' After the war, citizens and textbooks used the singular form of the verb, saying ‘The United States is.' Specht said. “The nation was no longer a collection of states bound by a lax federal government. After the war, the nation took precedence over the states.How it startedFor decades, there had been a simmering conflict between slave and nonslave America. What had kept the lid on was a number of compromises, such as the 1820 Missouri Compromise. Before Missouri asked to be admitted to the Union, there were 11 free and 11 slave states, giving the two sides a rough balance in Congress. Missouri was admitted as a slave state at the same time as free Maine — and the Missouri Compromise was forged, stating that any territory south of Missouri could be slave states, while present-day Kansas and land north of that would be free,But as white people settled Kansas and Nebraska, conflict remained in Congress over the balance of power between slave and free states.In May 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Its reasonable-sounding premise was that settlers in new territories would vote whether to allow slavery.Both sides quickly settled on similar tactics to win that vote — a combination of filling the Kansas Territorymisr.S.*I►w’mJ £FT.VmmA *•«* *i18’•ft*fbanpMuseniors,■ WEB8ITE: www.k8ha.orgI -:v.roughadults, $3 forwewith supporters and killing the opposition.“The issue for the South was the expansion of slavery. The issue for the North was the expansion of slavery, Specht said. “The South feared a loss of influence if free territories were admitted.But it wasn't just a high-minded moral opposition to slavery that motivated many Northerners.“The best way to maintain a republic was to own land and control your own destiny, she said. “If slavery expands, slave owners will get control of all the land.Or at least all the good land,“Plantations had the money and bought up most of the good land, Horton said. “The best land was bought by the rich people.“For a white worker in New York City or Philadelphia, the possibility of being able to move to the West and be an independent landowner was very, very important, he said. “And so one of the things you wanted to make sure is, there'd be enough land available. Free soil was sold to the people with the message you wouldn't have to compete with slave labor.And for some, Horton said, opposing slavery was a way to keep blacks out.“You didn't want that land taken up by slave holders and slaves. You didn't want that land taken up even by free blacks ... being free of slavery would al so mean having a very small, insignificant black population, said Horton,’■iiftT*•AftA1 ViifI,y,41Mitti««•.'V.kt *all people.I#Sen. Pat Robertain a proposal to designate 24 eastern counties as a national heritage area♦who is co-author of “In Hope of Liberty: Culture, Community, and Protest Among Northern Free Blacks, 1700-1860 and “Hard Road to Freedom: African Roots Through the Civil War.In fact, the first proposed constitution for Kansas, now called the “Topeka Constitution, was drafted by free-staters who recently had founded Lawrence. Many of those settlers were sponsored by the anti-slavery Emigrant Aid Society of Massachusetts, whose goal was to fill Kansas with anti-slavery residents. That first constitution, approved by the people on Dec. 15,1855, on a 1,731-46 vote, prohibited slavery — but also excluded free blacks from the state.“Then as now, motives are seldom pure, Horton said. #MassacresBecause the future seemed to hang in the balance, Kansas attracted more than its share of violence.“It was a place that attracted people who were committed, Horton said.It's comparable to the situation in Iraq today, he said, in that it was seen as the place to go to fight.“It attracted people on both sides who were very, very passionate about the issue, Specht said.The Emigrant Aid Society of Massachusetts started recruiting anti-slavery people to move to the territory almost as soon as the Kansas-Nebraska Act was signed. The first settlers arrived and founded Lawrence late in the summer of 1854.Among those who moved to Kansaswas Connecticut abolitionist John*Brown and five of his sons. In 1856, his group killed five supporters of slavery.The Lawrence area would be the site of numerous skirmishes between pro-and anti-slavery groups, including the Marais de Cygne Massacre, in which 11 free-state supporters were rounded up and shot in 1858 by a group of slaver,..m■V:.T *t. ,V_____******I'mm*%•r*’II’’ and became known asIf“Beecher's ^ Brownhis own guerrilla army and, in 1859, led an armed assault on the federal arms depot in Harper's Ferry, Va., intending to capture enough weapons to supply that force.He was caught, convicted and hanged for treason. Brown is the huge, larger-than-life man with the flying beard featured in the John Curry mural in the Kansas Capitol building, with a rifle in one hand and a Bible in the other.The same week Brown was hanged in Virginia, presidential candidate Abra-1 ham Lincoln visited Kansas, spending a week visiting several towns in the northeastern part of the state.Kansas was admitted to the Union on Jan. 29,1861, as a free state. Ten weeks later, Southern troops attacked Fort Sumter, S.C, in the opening battle of the Civil War.Modern recognitionThe importance of Kansas in the nation's history could receive greater recognition if members of the state's congressional delegation have their way.U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownbaek on Monday introduced legislation that would designate 24 eastern counties as the “Bleeding Kansas and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom National Heritage Area.Besides the “Bleeding Kansas legacy, the designation would note other important events, such as the 1954 Brown v. Topeka Board of Education ruling, in which the U.S. Supreme Court determined segregated schools were unconstitutional.“Though far from the main campaigns, Bleeding Kansas became a prominent symbol in the fight for the freedom of all people, and the territory would become a battleground over the question of slavery, Roberts said in announcing the bill. “Almost 100 years later, Kansas was the battleground once again, as Oliver Brown fought to prove that separate among the people of this great nation is not equal.■ Reporter Michael Strand can be reached at 823-6464, Ext. 143t or by e-mail at sjmstrand@saljournal.com.it•1-c.n' ' ’.■Asomeonewill beBy The Hutchinson HewsHUTCHINSON — The theft of about 100 artifacts from the: Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, which came to -light last fall, isn't on its way to becoming an “unsolved mystery.Despite months of waiting for the outcome of a federal investigation, Cosmosphere President Jeff Ollenburger said Wednesday the matter is in the process of being resolved, although he could not pinpoint a time frame.No charges have been filed nor arrests made in the thefts, which were uncovered and forwarded to federal authorities in November. The items apparently were taken from storage ar- „• eas in the Cosmosphere and sold to collectors, but the space museum did not know about or receive proceeds from the sales.In the meantime, Ollenburg-.. er said some of the missing items — including space helmets, gloves and other personal equipment worn by astronauts, plus small equipment and hardware from the U.S. Space Program — have been found and collected by investigators.The number and description of items recovered were not available.The Cosmosphere owned most of the artifacts, but some were on loan from the National Aeronautic and Space Administration.HI'I**' M ^ l 3lt;» f * V v *CUJTHMGAlsoBig 8c Tall825-0689 In Kraft ManorOpen Mon. thru Thurs. 9*8 Fri. 6c Sat. 9*6anr'
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Salina Journal
Salina, Kansas, US
Fri, Apr 02, 2004
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