Border Ruffians was the name applied to pro-slavery settlers from the slave state of Missouri, who from 1854 to 1860 crossed the state border into Kansas Territory to force the acceptance of slavery there.
A group of proslavery Missourians during the period from 1854 until the beginning of the Civil War who used to cross the border into Kansas to vote illegally, make raids, and intimidate the antislavery settlers.
