The Race for Kansas.

Both Southerners and Northerners knew in 1854 that the bitter fight over slavery's extension would take place in the West, in the new territory of Kansas. Both proslavery Southerners and antislavery Northerners were determined to settle Kansas first and win the territory for their side. As soon as the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in Congress, abolitionists formed the New England Emigrant Aid Society to bring settlers to eastern Kansas. The emigration of antislavery New Englanders to the territory incited proslavery Missourians to action. Led by Senator David Rice Atchison, the Missourians hoped to win Kansas back from Free Soilers attempting to settle it as a free state. "If we win we carry slavery to the Pacific ocean," declared Atchison. "[I]f we fail, we lose Missouri, Arkansas, Texas and all the territories."

Border Ruffians.

The first battles in...