Is it Saturday yet? Because I want to go to there NOW!
The funny thing about the Border Showdown is that it’s the remnant of real showdowns that took place in Kansas and Missouri in the years leading up to the Civil war.
The Missouri Compromise allowed Maine to enter the union as an anti-slavery state as long as Missouri could enter as a pro-slavery state, thus keeping the number of pro-and anti-slavery states equal.
Eventually, anti-slavery settlers from Missouri moved to what is now Kansas. This wasn’t a big deal until the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed the newly-incorporated Kansas and Nebraska territories to determine whether they wanted to be pro- or anti-slave states via popular vote. More abolitionists meant the Kansas vote was decidedly anti-slavery.
Because both Kansas and Nebraska were anti-slavery, there were now more abolitionist states than slave states. This did not sit well with Missourians. So they raided, sacked and burnt the anti-slavery settlement of Lawrence (where KU is today) and massacred more than 200 men aged 12-200. This is where the name “Bleeding Kansas” comes from.
Of course there were counter-raids (by Jayhawkers) and poll-rigging and the like. But all of this is to say:
FUCK MIZZOU.
Rock. Chalk. Jayhawk, mofuggahs.
