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Why did the New England Emigrant Aid Company send settlers to Kansas?
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Samuel Gridley Howe
Samuel Gridley Howe
The New England Emigrant Aid Company sent settlers to the Kansas Territory to ensure that it would remain free of slavery.1
Following the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, which allowed the territory to determine its own status regarding slavery through the principle of popular sovereignty, the region became a focal point for intense conflict between proslavery and antislavery factions. The company provided assistance to Northerners migrating to the territory specifically to bolster the antislavery cause and prevent the expansion of slavery into the region.12