$24.95 with 17 percent savings
List Price: $29.95

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
FREE delivery May 16 - 17. Details
Or fastest delivery Tuesday, May 14. Order within 15 hrs 41 mins. Details
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$24.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$24.95
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
textbooks_source
Ships from
textbooks_source
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. You may receive a partial or no refund on used, damaged or materially different returns.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. You may receive a partial or no refund on used, damaged or materially different returns.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Nicole Etcheson
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era Paperback – Illustrated, January 29, 2004

by Nicole Etcheson (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 51 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$24.95","priceAmount":24.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"24","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"sYn2wHyvQZTsWOt9ghZs9X8c8dz0ECyMnNlXblFfDDeLJ0XJl%2FACAY23oBIQXLIm2g9h1XLzzFlSOYFCTWYDx9%2F9um%2BXmvybMNk5ngSILd2eMsLfHuHvx9mC9FxaVXEOoCa6r47%2Fh3E1HNlTKzZ92z1FPsbBZE51%2BPTheSwEj7Xdehcqw1Wfug%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Few people would have expected bloodshed in Kansas Territory. After all, it had few slaves and showed few signs that slavery would even flourish. But civil war tore this territory apart in the 1850s and 60s, and "Bleeding Kansas" became a forbidding symbol for the nationwide clash over slavery that followed.

Many free-state Kansans seemed to care little about slaves, and many proslavery Kansans owned not a single slave. But the failed promise of the Kansas-Nebraska Act-when fraud in local elections subverted the settlers' right to choose whether Kansas would be a slave or free state-fanned the flames of war. While other writers have cited slavery or economics as the cause of unrest, Nicole Etcheson seeks to revise our understanding of this era by focusing on whites' concerns over their political liberties. The first comprehensive account of "Bleeding Kansas" in more than thirty years, her study re-examines the debate over slavery expansion to emphasize issues of popular sovereignty rather than slavery's moral or economic dimensions.

The free-state movement was a coalition of settlers who favored black rights and others who wanted the territory only for whites, but all were united by the conviction that their political rights were violated by nonresident voting and by Democratic presidents' heavy-handed administration of the territories. Etcheson argues that participants on both sides of the Kansas conflict believed they fought to preserve the liberties secured by the American Revolution and that violence erupted because each side feared the loss of meaningful self-governance.

Bleeding Kansas is a gripping account of events and people-rabble-rousing Jim Lane, zealot John Brown, Sheriff Sam Jones, and others-that examines the social milieu of the settlers along with the political ideas they developed. Covering the period from the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act to the 1879 Exoduster Migration, it traces the complex interactions among groups inside and outside the territory, creating a comprehensive political, social, and intellectual history of this tumultuous period in the state's history.

As Etcheson demonstrates, the struggle over the political liberties of whites may have heightened the turmoil but led eventually to a broadening of the definition of freedom to include blacks. Her insightful re-examination sheds new light on this era and is essential reading for anyone interested in the ideological origins of the Civil War.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Univ Pr of Kansas
  4. Publication date
    January 29, 2004
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0700614923
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0700614929
  8. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era
$27.04
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Missouri: The Long Civil War on the Border
$25.61
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
Only 9 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Stark Mad Abolitionists: Lawrence, Kansas, and the Battle over Slavery in the Civil War Era
$23.74
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Orucbey LLC and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Some of these items ship sooner than the others.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Makes a significant contribution to the historiography of the 1850s. . . . Will be a necessary starting point from now on for anyone seeking to learn what ‘bleeding Kansas’ was about and why it mattered.”—Journal of American History

“Well written, phenomenally well researched, and a wonderful addition to the scholarship of this important period. . . . Highly recommended for anyone interested in the crucial role of Kansas in shaping the sectional ideologies that would lead eventually to Civil War.”—North & South

“Etcheson breaks new ground and demonstrates that the violence of Bleeding Kansas forced free soilers to examine their own racial biases. The result was a significant ideological transformation. . . . Her book skillfully recreates this important egalitarian moment.” —Western Historical Quarterly

“A thoughtful and well-written addition to the scholarship of Kansas and the coming of the Civil War. The book deserves a wide readership.”—Missouri Historical Review

“A lively political history highly recommended for all libraries with collections in U.S. history.”—Choice

“Prodigiously researched and boldly written, Etcheson’s study reopens the important story of ‘Bleeding Kansas’ in a thought provoking and compelling way.”—Michael Fellman, coauthor of That Terrible War: The Civil War and Its Aftermath

“Kansas Territory did indeed bleed for freedom, but as Etcheson’s elegant, balanced, and deep account shows, the ‘slaves’ about whom combatants there were most passionate were white.”—Craig Miner, author of Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State, 1854–2000

“An ambitious, important, long-overdue, and very successful revisionist history of the organization of Kansas Territory. . . . Essential reading for anyone interested in the ideological origins of the Civil War.”—Kenneth Winkle, author of The Young Eagle: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln

From the Back Cover

"Prodigiously researched and boldly written, Etcheson's study reopens the important story of 'Bleeding Kansas' in a thought provoking and compelling way."--Michael Fellman, coauthor of That Terrible War: The Civil War and Its Aftermath

"Kansas Territory did indeed bleed for freedom, but as Etcheson's elegant, balanced, and deep account shows, the 'slaves' about whom combatants there were most passionate were white."--Craig Miner, author of Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State, 1854-2000

"An ambitious, important, long-overdue, and very successful revisionist history of the organization of Kansas Territory. . . . Essential reading for anyone interested in the ideological origins of the Civil War."--Kenneth Winkle, author of The Young Eagle: The Rise of Abraham Lincoln

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Univ Pr of Kansas (January 29, 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0700614923
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0700614929
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.18 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 51 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Nicole Etcheson

Nicole Etcheson

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
51 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Casey
5.0 out of 5 stars Great history of the events leading to the civil war
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2012
Verified Purchase
This is a good and very detailed book about the events in Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The Act was designed to bring "popular sovereignty" to the decision of slavery. The residents of the territory would decide if the new state they were creating would be slave or free. Sounds very reasonable to today's readers, but the idea was full of "unintended consequences". First of all, Kansas was a new territory with very few residents. Most the people deciding on slavery would be newcomers to the state. Both pro and anti slavery people flooded into the territory to vote their preference. Lawlessness, political underhandedness and violence was common. Slavery vs. anti-slavery was a very hot button issue at the time. People were not willing to compromise on something they felt so strongly about.

The anti-slavery people had several different views. The free-soilers were people who wanted the state free, but didn't really want existing slavery ended. They didn't want thousands of freed slaves coming to Kansas to compete for resources. The abolitionists were the more extreme, by the standard of the times. The abolitionists wanted all slavery ended everywhere. John Brown was the best known and most radical of the abolitionists. He resorted to terrible violence which hurt the anti-slavery cause.

At the time, many people in the country thought that this was the civil war that had been avoided for 40 years. Kansas was eventually admitted as a free state. But instead of solving the slavery issue in the United States, it just highlighted it. The fuse was lit and country broke into a terrible and bloody civil war just months after Kansas became a state.

I highly recommend this book. It explains an interesting and important part of history that is too often overshadowed by the American Civil War which followed.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Anthony
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for college research paper!
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2015
Verified Purchase
I am using this book for a college research paper and could not have asked for more. I'm a Kansan, so the story is interesting to me but the big bonus with this book is the research involved. Etcheson did an amazing job of researching this matter and provides a super comprehensive narrative. I can honestly say that there isn't much of anything that was unclear about the period after reading this. All aspects of the events are covered in depth and all factors are fleshed out thoroughly. If you are looking for a good book to use for a research project and interested in the subject, I highly recommend it.
8 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
laolaohu
4.0 out of 5 stars not much forest but many trees
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2011
Verified Purchase
This is a case of the author not being able to see the forest for the trees. The trees in this case being the events that took place, the who, what, where and when. The forest being the setting in which these events took place, and the motivations of the individual participants.

We begin to suspect we're in trouble in the first two paragraphs of the introduction, where the author admits that as a graduate student doing research in another area of pre-Civil War history, she found herself puzzled that she found so many references to Kansas. Um, hello, you're a graduate student in American history and you still are not aware of Bleeding Kansas? I found that rather incredible.

I also found incredible the way she almost completely mischaracterizes Stephen Douglas. To judge from this book, you might think that Douglas was some starry-eyed dreamer who introduced the concept of popular sovereignty from some vision he had concerning the philosophical underpinnings of liberty. Um, once again, hello, you are a graduate student in history and you still are not aware that Stephen Douglas was not a dreamer, he was a hard-nosed politician, who tossed out the concept of popular sovereignty merely as a sop to the South so that he could secure a northern passage for a transcontinental railway in order to benefit his constituents in Illinois?

And this is just the first few dozen pages.

So if you're looking for the motivations of Jim Lane, John Brown and all the other players on the Bleeding Kansas scene, you will find little of it here.

That said, however, she does do a good job with the trees. She has obviously done a lot of research and has dug up quite a bit of detail. This book is particularly good in filling in the gaps between the skirmishes of 1855-56 and the eventual sack of Lawrence by Quantrill's raiders in 1863, a period that is somewhat glossed over in other sources.

My recommendation would be this. If you are new to the subject, find another source as your introduction. But if you already have some background in this area, then you will probably find it worthwhile to give this one a look.
16 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
J. C. Campbell
5.0 out of 5 stars Bleeding Kansas
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2010
Verified Purchase
This is a very good general history of the era with significant details to entice more research. It is well written and touches on part of the History of Kansas that is often overlooked as the precursor to the American Civil War. Hope that Etcheson continues the work on the era and perhaps follows in the footsteps of a noted early 1900s, empowered female historian of Kansas, Anna Heloise Abel whose work is incredibly accurate especially as it has to do with the overwhelming conspiracy to extinguish the titles Indian tribes held in the permanent Indian Territory of Kansas.
3 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Michael Herndon
5.0 out of 5 stars Really good read! This book covers a period of the ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2015
Verified Purchase
Really good read! This book covers a period of the Civil War that is often glossed over, "Bleeding Kansas". "Hardcore" CW buffs will especially enjoy this work. It covers the early history, both political & military of the slavery/anti slavery issue. It presents the complex issues that existed
not just in Kansas but throughout the US in the antebellum period. There were some good guys & some bad guys on both sides of the struggle
in Kansas & that is well presented here.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Robert D High
5.0 out of 5 stars Learned a lot
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2021
Verified Purchase
Very good book about a subject that I knew little about.
Helpful
 Report
Cranky Yankee
5.0 out of 5 stars Order from Chaos
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2008
Verified Purchase
Nicole Etcheson does a masterful job of weaving the chaotic detail of the early Kansas chaos into a cogent history. She convincingly demonstrates that the stories we heard in high school of the motivations underlying the conflict were over generalized at best, and usually misleading. Her narrative is lively and her insights are enlightening. This book should be read by anyone interested in the events leading to the Civil War.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report