Beecher's Bibles

During the 1854 formation of two new states, Kansas and Nebraska, Congress repealed the Missouri Compromise and initiated the Kansas–Nebraska Act, saying rather the citizens within each territory could decide by popular vote.

It was during this conflict that Minister Henry Ward Beecher raised funds to buy rifles for the anti-slavery "free-staters".

Beecher was an outspoken abolitionist and he raised funds to buy weapons for Kansas' free state (anti-slavery) settlers.

[6] The Federal and state authorities had forbidden sending arms to the territory but that did not stop abolitionists from donating funds for firearm purchases.

This breech-loading rifle was a new invention and extremely effective in comparison, the Missourian was poorly armed, carrying either a squirrel-knife, a heavy buffalo-gun, or a clumsy army musket.

This difference in armament probably explains why the free-state bands, though usually outnumbered, were invariably victorious in all open fighting.”[8] There are a number of origin stories for the name "Beecher's Bibles".