What did the Emigrant Aid Societies do?

Abolitionists in the northeastern states became determined to keep Kansas from becoming a slave state. They organized emigrant aid companies to encourage antislavery supporters to move to Kansas.

Where did the Emigrant Aid Society send free soil settlers?

At the time there was a very delicate balance between slave states and free states. The Company send settlers to Kansas to buy land and build houses, shops and mills. The settlers could then sell the land at a significant profit and send the money back to Thayer and his investors.

Who formed the Emigrant Aid Company?

Eli Thayer
New England Emigrant Aid Company/Founders

As a response to the popular sovereignty provision in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society (soon renamed the New England Emigrant Aid Company) is founded by Eli Thayer and other antislavery advocates to help Free-Staters settle in Kansas Territory.

When was the Emigrant Aid Society established?

One of the organizations created to encourage abolitionist settlement of Kansas was The Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. Incorporated under the guidance of Eli Thayer of Worcester in April, 1854, the company was a venture designed both for benevolence and moneymaking.

Why did the Emigrant Aid Society sneak voters into Kansas?

Instead, anti-slavery groups established Emigrant Aid Societies in 1854–1855. Their purpose was to send over a thousand New Englanders to Kansas to beef up the voting pool. Pro-slavery groups took similar action by sneaking into Kansas to vote. Such antics led to violence.

What did the Emigrant Aid Society do to encourage abolitionists to move to Kansas?

They organized emigrant aid companies to encourage antislavery supporters to move to Kansas. The company placed ads in newspapers hoping to attract potential settlers to Kansas Territory. Settlers traveled in groups at a reduced rate.

What happened in the New England Emigrant Aid Society arrives in Ks?

In 1856, a proslavery mob attacked Lawrence and destroyed the company’s Free State Hotel and other NEEAC property. This event, plus news of escalating violence in the territory, aroused northern sympathy and led to the formation of other aid societies providing assistance to the territory.

Who was fighting in Bleeding Kansas?

Bleeding Kansas, (1854–59), small civil war in the United States, fought between proslavery and antislavery advocates for control of the new territory of Kansas under the doctrine of popular sovereignty.

How did the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre lead to Bleeding Kansas?

The killings at Pottawatomie Creek marked the beginning of the bloodletting of the “Bleeding Kansas” period, as both sides of the slavery issue embarked on a campaign of terror, intimidation, and armed conflict that lasted throughout the summer.

Did Bleeding Kansas start the Civil War?

Although not a direct cause of the Civil War, Bleeding Kansas represented a critical event in the coming of the Civil War.

Who killed 5 people in Bleeding Kansas?

abolitionist John Brown
On the night of May 24, 1856, the radical abolitionist John Brown, five of his sons, and three other associates murdered five proslavery men at three different cabins along the banks of Pottawatomie Creek, near present-day Lane, Kansas.

Why did the New England Emigrant Aid Company oppose the Kansas Nebraska Act?

Antislavery Northerners denounced the act because it essentially repealed the Compromise of 1820, which barred slavery in the lands attained from the Louisiana Purchase above the 36°30’ parallel, including the area that would become Kansas. One response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act came from businessmen in New England.

Where was the New England Emigrant Aid Company located?

The New England Emigrant Aid Company established the town of Lawrence and set up their headquarters at the Free State Hotel. Image courtesy of the Internet Archive. The New England Emigrant Aid Company (NEEAC) formed in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

Why did the New England Emigrant Aid Company sack Lawrence?

The town became an abolitionist stronghold in the territory, and the 1856 Sack of Lawrence by border ruffians was a result of the NEEAC’s prominence there. From the moment of their arrival, Northern emigrants clashed with Missourians who wanted Kansas to become a slave state.