New England Emigrant Aid Company Sign

The Kansas-Nebraska Act opened settlement of Kansas and Nebraska territories in 1854. This law also replaced the Missouri Compromise that previously outlawed slavery north of latitude 36 degrees, 30 minutes. Kansas and Nebraska are both north of this line. Under the new law, residents of each territory could now decide if their state constitution would permit slavery. The concept that voters get to choose what is right for themselves is referred to as popular sovereignty.

While Congress debated the Kansas-Nebraska Act, many Northerners feared that proslavery individuals from Missouri would cross the border into Kansas and tip the balance in favor of the "peculiar institution." Some Missourians and Southerners believed a free Kansas would threaten slave property in Missouri.

As tension mounted, Eli Thayer of Massachusetts devised a plan to prevent slavery from spreading to Kansas. He believed that if enough antislavery supporters settled in the territory, they could capture the vote and make Kansas a free state. One month before the Kansas-Nebraska Act became law, Thayer and other prestigious New England businessmen incorporated the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. The company reorganized in 1855 as the New England Emigrant Aid Company (NEEAC).

The company's goals were profit-driven as well as politically motivated. It wanted to secure low-cost transportation for emigrants, build mills, and provide temporary housing for settlers once they reached Kansas Territory. A newspaper was also planned to promote the good morals the company wished to spread throughout the territory.

These good morals did not include supporting slavery. NEEAC secretary Thomas Webb wrote in an 1855 pamphlet that individuals in New England Emigrant Aid Company parties were not required to promise they would vote against slavery in Kansas Territory, however, he assumed they would support the free-state cause.

NEEAC sent its first group of settlers to Kansas Territory on July 17, 1854. This party included 29 men and reached Kansas City, Missouri, on July 29, 1854. From there they traveled to a site on the Wakarusa River and founded the first of several towns established by the company. They later named the town Lawrence after NEEAC's treasurer, Amos Lawrence, and it became the company's base of operations in the new territory.

Other parties joined the first group throughout the next few years and were instrumental in founding the towns of Topeka, Osawatomie, and Manhattan. These towns became centers for antislavery activity. In addition, NEEAC agents later assumed powerful positions when Kansas gained statehood in 1861. Charles Robinson became the first state governor, Samuel C. Pomeroy served as one of the first U.S. Senators, and Martin F. Conway represented Kansas for the first time in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The company helped keep territorial events before the Northern public during a very dynamic time. NEEAC also suffered a major setback that provided a great deal of publicity for both the company and the free-state cause. In 1856, a proslavery mob attacked Lawrence and destroyed the company's Free State Hotel and other NEEAC property. This event, plus news of escalating violence in the territory, aroused northern sympathy and led to the formation of many other Eastern aid societies providing assistance to the territory.

NEEAC never made money for its stockholders. In addition, less than 2,000 settlers came to Kansas as a direct result of its activities. However, the company was important in settling Kansas and making it a free state.

This sign probably was used at the Boston headquarters of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. It is in the collections of the Society's Kansas Museum of History.

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