Editing Kansas Territory (section)

=== Free staters ===
[[Image:KS-Territory-Change.png|320px|thumb|Territorial changes of Kansas]]

During the long debate that preceded the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, it had become the settled opinion at the North that the only remaining means whereby the territory might yet be rescued from the grasp of the slave power, was in its immediate occupancy and settlement by anti-slavery emigrants from the free states in sufficient numbers to establish free institutions within its borders. The desire to facilitate the colonization of the Territory took practical shape while the bill was still under debate in the [[United States Congress]]. The largest organization created for this purpose was the [[New England Emigrant Aid Company]], organized by [[Eli Thayer]].<ref name=cordley>{{cite book|last=Cordley|first=Richard|title=A History of Lawrence, Kansas|date=1895|publisher=E. F. Caldwell [[Lawrence Journal-World|Lawrence Journal Press]]|location=Lawrence, KS|url=http://www.kancoll.org/books/cordley_history/ch_ch01.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021123021827/http://www.kancoll.org/books/cordley_history/ch_ch01.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2002-11-23|access-date=July 24, 2017|chapter=Chapter 1 }}</ref>

Emigration from the free states (including [[Iowa]], [[Ohio]], and other Midwestern and New England states), flowed into the territory beginning in 1854. These emigrants were known as [[Free-Stater (Kansas)|Free-Stater]]s. Because Missourians had claimed much of the land closest to the border, the Free-Staters were forced to establish settlements further into Kansas Territory. Among these were [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]], [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]], and [[Manhattan, Kansas|Manhattan]].

To protect themselves against the encroachments of non-residents, the "Actual Settlers' Association of Kansas Territory" was formed. This association held a meeting on August 12, 1854, the object being the adoption of some regulations that should afford protection to the Free-State settlers, under laws not unlike those adopted by the pro-slavery [[squatter]]s in the border region east.