History has often portrayed the process of Kansas becoming a free state with the phrase "Bleeding Kansas." The focus of these stories is on murder and mayhem. But is that truly how Kansas entered the union as a state without slavery?

This book puts forward the proposition that it was politics rather than violence that achieved this accomplishment. Antislavery settlers moved into the territory in far larger numbers than did proslavery settlers. A political "free state" movement was organized and, after trials and struggles, used its numbers to take command of the territorial government. In doing so they made their preference over the issue of slavery known.

In this work that story is told through period newspapers and letters, memoirs, and more. These sources show the failures and successes in preventing slavery from taking root in Kansas Territory.