Border ruffians

E1022831

Border ruffians were pro-slavery militants from Missouri who crossed into Kansas Territory in the 1850s to intimidate voters and influence whether Kansas would enter the Union as a slave state.

Jump to: Statements Referenced by

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf paramilitary group
political faction
pro-slavery militants
activeInPeriod 1850s
associatedWithCity Independence, Missouri NERFINISHED
Lexington, Missouri NERFINISHED
Platte City, Missouri NERFINISHED
Weston, Missouri NERFINISHED
contributedTo escalation of sectional tensions before the American Civil War
national debate over popular sovereignty
country United States of America
surface form: United States
describedAs armed Missourians crossing into Kansas to sway elections
hasLocationOfOrigin Missouri NERFINISHED
historicalContext United States sectional crisis of the 1850s NERFINISHED
ideology pro-slavery
influencedOutcomeOf Lecompton government in Kansas NERFINISHED
first territorial legislature of Kansas NERFINISHED
involvedInConflict Bleeding Kansas NERFINISHED
violence along the Missouri–Kansas border
involvedInEvent Bleeding Kansas NERFINISHED
involvedInProcess Kansas statehood struggle
Kansas–Nebraska Act aftermath
language English
notableFor crossing from Missouri into Kansas to vote illegally
influencing territorial elections in Kansas
operatedIn Kansas Territory NERFINISHED
opposedBy Free-State militias in Kansas NERFINISHED
New England Emigrant Aid Company settlers
opposedGroup Free-State settlers in Kansas
Free-Staters NERFINISHED
abolitionists in Kansas Territory
opposedIdeology Free-Soil movement NERFINISHED
abolitionism
participatedIn territorial elections in Kansas in 1854
territorial elections in Kansas in 1855
territorial elections in Kansas in 1857
politicalAlignment Democratic Party (pro-slavery wing) NERFINISHED
primaryGoal ensure Kansas entered the Union as a slave state
expand slavery into Kansas Territory
regionOfSupport border counties of Missouri
western Missouri
supportedLaw Kansas–Nebraska Act GENERATED
usedTactic armed raids
ballot-box stuffing
electoral fraud
illegal voting in Kansas elections
threats against Free-State settlers
violence
voter intimidation

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Kansas Territory associatedWith Border ruffians