The history of Kansas, argued historian Carl L. Becker a century ago, reflects American ideals. He wrote: The Kansas spirit is the American spirit double distilled. It is a new grafted product of American individualism, American idealism, American intolerance. Kansas is America in microcosm.Located on the eastern edge of the Great Plains, the U.S. state of Kansas was the home of nomadic Native American tribes who hunted the vast herds of bison (often called "buffalo").