Editing Kansas Territory (section)

==Missouri Territory==
{{Main|Missouri Territory}}
From June 4, 1812, until August 10, 1821, the area that would become Kansas Territory 33 years later was part of the [[Missouri Territory]]. When Missouri was granted statehood in 1821 the area became unorganized territory and contained little to no permanent white settlement with the exception of [[Fort Leavenworth]]. The Fort was established in 1827 by [[Henry Leavenworth]] with the [[3rd Infantry Regiment (United States)|3rd U.S. Infantry]] from [[St. Louis, Missouri]]; it is the first permanent European settlement in Kansas.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a211662.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412030430/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a211662.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=April 12, 2019|title=A Brief History of Fort Leavenworth|author=Partin, John W. Partin|year=1983|access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref> The fort was established as the westernmost outpost of the American military to protect trade along the [[Santa Fe Trail]] from [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. The trade came from the East, by land using the [[Boone's Lick Road]], or by water via the [[Missouri River]].<ref>{{cite book|title=K.C.: A History of Kansas City, Missouri|last1=Dorsett|first1=Lyle W.|last2=Brown|first2=A. Theodore|year=1978 |publisher=Pruett Publishing Company|location=Boulder, Colorado }}</ref> This area, called the [[Boonslick]], was located due east in west-central Missouri and was settled by Upland Southerners from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee as early as 1812.<ref>{{cite book|last=Switzler|first=William|title=History of Boone County, Missouri|publisher=St. Louis Western Historical Company|year=1882|pages=129}}</ref> Its slave-holding population would contrast with settlers from New England who would eventually arrive in the 1850s.

[[File:United States 1812-06-1816.png|thumb|right|200px|Map of the United States in 1812]]
The land that would become Kansas Territory was considered to be infertile by 19th century American pioneers.<ref>{{cite book |title=At the Rivers Bend: An Illustrated History of Kansas City, Independence, and Jackson County |last1=Schirmer |first1=Sherry Lamb |last2=McKinzie |first2=Richard D. |year=1982 |page=31 |publisher=Windsor Publication }}</ref> It was called the [[Great American Desert]], for it lacked trees and was drier than land eastward. Technically, it was part of the vast grasslands that make up the North American [[Great Plains]] and supported giant herds of [[American bison]]. After the invention of the steel plow and more sophisticated irrigation methods the thick prairie soil would be broken for agriculture.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/did-john-deeres-best-invention-spark-revolution-or-environmental-disaster-180957080/|title=Did John Deeres Best Invention Spark Revolution or Environmental Disaster?|author=Landers, Jackson|website=www.smithsonianmag.com|date=2015|access-date=January 24, 2019}}</ref> By the 1850s immigration pressure was increasing and organization into a Territory was desired.