This place we now call Kansas was "unorganized" territory prior
to 1854. It was the home of numerous Indian peoples including
the Plains tribes and less nomadic Indians such as the Kansas,
Pawnees, and Osages. As part of "Indian Country," this land was
shared after 1830 with about 20 different tribes from east of
the Mississippi River, resettled west of Missouri under the
federal government's Indian removal policy. With the ever-
increasing desire for further westward expansion, however, the
federal government commenced the negotiation of another Indian
removal in 1853. The U.S. Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska
Bill in May 1854. By the fall of that year, the tide of Euro-
American settlement was rolling over the prairies of eastern
Kansas—displacing the native population. These emigrant tribes
were, in large measure, removed to lands in the remaining Indian
country, which later became Oklahoma. At mid 19th century, the
sectional division within the nation was becoming more and more
pronounced. The Kansas-Neb