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The Abolitionist Movement
Abolishionists and Patriots believe that slavery is directly against the freedom and ideal of liberty expressed in the Declaration of Independence.Slavery is banned in the Northwest Territory and the Northwest Ordinance. -
The Cotton Gin
Just as slavery begins to fade a machine is invented that revalues the need for slaves. The machine is called the cotton gin and it seperates cottonseeds from the fibre, which previously was a very slow process. This machine encouraged the large-scale cultivation and processing of cotton. This required a labour force that could only be achieved by slaves. Importation of slaves dramatically increases over the following decades. -
Slavery in the North
The North outgrows slavery and all Northern states pass laws to abolish slavery. -
Slavery is Banned
Congress bans slavery African slave trade. However the southern economy is highly dependent on slavery and this is not heard in the south. -
The Missouri Compromise
The first effort to regulate the spread of slavery in the West came when opponents of slavery objected to admitting Missouri to the Unon as a slave state, At this time each side had equal representation in the US senate, and neither side could pass laws to which the other would object.
The debate was resolved with the Missouri Compromise whichadmtted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a freestate. No more slave states would be permitted north of the southern boundary of Missouri. -
Period: to
The Politics of Slavery
The issue of slavery focused on one questions : should the nation permit the extension of slavery to new territories in the west? -
The Missouri Compromise Returns
Some anti-slavery politicians took the debate one step futher by seeking to outlaw slavery in all the territories acquired from Mexico. This failed to become law and rose serious tension between the North and South. -
The Compromise of 1850
California was admitted as a free state and the slave trade was bened in Washington DC. Congress passed the Fugative Slave act, which required the federal government to use its power and authority to apprehend escaped slaves and return them to their masters. The Act also imposed penalties on anyone assiting fugitive slaves. Some rejoiced believing that the Compromise of 1850 preserved the Union, while Abolishnists were infuriated. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The bestselling novel Uncle Tom's Cabin rallied large Northern support for abolition. The story was sentimental and presented black slaves sympathetcally. It opened many northerners eyes to the harsh injustices of slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
In a struggle for control o Kansas erupted between supporters and opponents of slavery. Settlers of either opion flooded the free-soil of Kansas and conflicted begun. Pro-slavery forces looted and burned the fre-soil town of Lawrence, and opponents of slavery retaliated with raids of equal ferocity. Many settlers were slaughtered, foreshadowing the greater conflict to come. -
Lincoln and the Republican Party
Many Northern Whigs and other abolishionists joined forces to create the Republican Party, dedicated to halting the spread of slavery. Abraham Lincoln, a politician and lawyer, was a leading figure in the new party. He regared slavery as a monstrous injustice and opposed the Fugative Slave Act. -
Confederate States of America
Delegates from South Carolina and six other states from Texas to Florida assmbled in Montgomery, Alabama to create the Confederate States of America. The CSA would eventually incorporate eleven states. The new country's constitution was modelled on that of the United States, except that it explicity safeguarded slavery and emphasized the rights of indivudal states. The delegates chose Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as president of the CSA. -
Preparation for War
Despite their mutual desire for peace, both Lincoln and Davis began to prepare for war. -
Jefferson Davis' Inauguration
Davis argues that secession was consistent with the ideas contained in the Declaration of Independence, for the government required the consent of the governed. Since the South's independence posed no threat, Davis urged the North to allow the Confederacy to exist in peace. This would not be heard in the Union, as northern opinion overwhelmingly demanded that the Union be preserved. -
Fort Sumter
Confederate forces asault Fort Sumter. After two days of bombardment the fort is captured. Lincoln can use this event to claim that the Confederacy is hostile and demonstrating force against the Union. In doing this he rallies more support. The Civil War begins. -
The Trent Incident
The Union Navy stopped and serached a British vessel, the Trent, in the Caribbean. Two Confederates were on the Trent en route to Europe in hopes of gaining diplomatic recognition for the CSA from Great Britain and France. The Union officers seized them and took them to boston. The British objected to the seiuzure and threatened war. Neither Washington nor London really wanted war and the conflict found a diplomatic solution. -
Antietam, Maryland
Unio scouts fid a cop of Lee's Plans wrapped arond a bundle of cigars. McClellans arms stopped Lee's advnace. With almost 6000 killed and three times wounded, Antietam was the bloodies signle day in American history. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln signs the final Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that th 3 million slaves across the South "are and hencforward shall be free". -
Gettysburg
General Lee led another invasion the North. At Gettysburg, Pennsylvannia, Lee's ary met a Union for e led by General George Meade. WIth more than 160 000 soldiers involved, Gettysburg was the largest battle ever fought in North America. After three days the Confederate retreated and the Union was victorious. -
Tensions within the Union
Riots broke out in New York City to protest the controversial imposition of a draft, of compuslsory military service. Much anger and violence was directed against African Americans. -
Proposals for Amnesty
Lincoln begins the reconstruction of the South by pacifying those areas that had come under the control of thing Union army, beginning in Louisiana. Lincolns plan was a patient one designted to offer incentives to rejoin the Union. -
Atlanta to Appomattox
Newly appointed Generaly Ulysses S. Grant invades Virginia. Grant embarked on a campaign to destroy civilian property in an effort to terrorize the South.
In addition General Willam Sherman's Union army captures Atlanta. After burning the city, Sherman's forces avance to Savannah. During the final months of 1864 Sherman's men methodically destroyed the bridges and railroads, farms and plantations, and crops and livestock of Georgia. Sherman's strategy to crush the rebels pride succeeded. -
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Addres
Lincolns second inaugural address was barely 700 words in length. While some in the assembled crowed anticipated a forceful condemanation of the Confederacy and other expected lavish praise for Union armies, Lincoln offered neither. He ended by proclaiming in simple but stirring terms the need for reconciliation between North and South. -
General Lee Surrenders
Lee and his remaining troops surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Now a fugative, Jefferson Davis was captured a month later, having failed to re-establish the Confederate government in Texas. The war had ended after almost four years of fighting. -
The Loss of Lincoln
President Linoln is shot at Ford's Theater in Washington by a Confederate sympathizer named Join Wilkes Bootth. His act plunged the North into shock and grief, while former slaves across the south lamented the loss of the "great Emancipator". Lincolns successor, Vice President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat and native of Tennessee would be unable to thwart Northern demands for revenge.
