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Law, Popular Legal Culture, And The Case Of Kansas, 1854-1856, Chad G. Marzen
Law, Popular Legal Culture, And The Case Of Kansas, 1854-1856, Chad G. Marzen
Chad G. Marzen
This article analyzes the popular legal culture to appeals for emigration to Kansas made by abolitionists and Northeasterners in response to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The article concludes that by engaging in a close reading of Kansas rhetoric from 1854-1856 in the instruments of popular culture which responded to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the significant change in tone helps to explain how popular culture and the response to the legislation led to the growing polarization between North and South prior to the onset of the Civil War.