Federal Punishment and the Legal Time of Bleeding Kansas
Sara M. Benson
Chapter from the book: Benson, S. 2019. The Prison of Democracy: Race, Leavenworth, and the Culture of Law.
Part of
Chapter from the book: Benson, S. 2019. The Prison of Democracy: Race, Leavenworth, and the Culture of Law.
Chapter 3 locates Leavenworth in the context of a war over slavery at the Kansas-Missouri border. It traces the history of the federal law-and-order project to the history of slavery and punishment in the region, and it examines how Kansas was a place that fought against slavery but eventually welcomed the prison as a representation of statehood. This chapter explores the complex relationship born out of Bleeding Kansas between slavery, justice, and punishment. Ultimately, the federal institution of Leavenworth became a testament to democracy and state power in a place where citizens once rejected the concept of federal power.
Benson, S. 2019. Federal Punishment and the Legal Time of Bleeding Kansas. In: Benson, S, The Prison of Democracy. California: University of California Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1525/luminos.66.d
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Published on April 16, 2019