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1853 Mar 2
Pres. Franklin Pierce appointed Isaac Ingalls Stevens (1818-1862) as the first governor of the Washington Territory. Stevens served as United States Congressman from the territory from 1857-1858, and as a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He died at the Battle of Chantilly.
Links: USA, Washington, PierceF     Click to see the source(s) for this event 
 
1854 May 30
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, designed by Sen. Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, was passed by the US Congress. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The governor of the Kansas Territory was James William Denver. Pres. Pierce kept appointing proslavery governors. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened the north to slavery. This period of Kansas history was incorporated into the 1998 novel "The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton," by Jane Smiley.
Links: USA, Kansas, Nebraska, Slavery, PierceF     Click to see the source(s) for this event 
 



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