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Frederick Douglass is Born
Douglass was raised by his grandmother after his mother's death. At the age of eight he was "hired out" to work as a servant for a family in Baltimore, Maryland. It is there that he learned to read, first under his mistress's tutelage and then by way of the neighborhood children. -
Harriet Tubman is Born
Born into slavery, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia in 1849. She became involved in the Underground Railroad, helping slaves to flee to northern free states and Canada. She risked her life and freedom by returning 19 times to the south. -
William Lloyd Garrison Puts Out First Issue of "The Liberator"
Garrison was one of the staunchest abolitionist during this time. In the first issue of the newspaper, Garrison announced he could not be a part of any antislavery movement that compromised the institution. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Revolt in VA led by Turner who was a literate field slave. He led a band of followers that killed Turner's owner, Joseph Travis, and then 60 other white people. An enraged posse captured and killed most of Turner's group. Turner hid for 2 months before being caught. He and more than 30 other slaves were executed and more than 100 innocent slaves were also killed. -
Liberty Party Founded
The Liberty Party's platform was that the Constitution prohibited the federal government from creating slavery in any new states or territories. During the Presidential election, it nominated abolitionist James Birney. -
Frederick Douglass Goes on a SpeakingTour
Douglass is invited to go on a 6-month tour with the American Anti-Slavery Society. On more than one occasion, he was attacked by angry mobs. -
Frederick Douglass' Autobiography Published
Douglass' first and most famous autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" was published. He will publish two other autobiographies -- "My Bondage and My Freedom" in 1855 and "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" in 1881. -
Wilmot Proviso First Introduced in Congress
David Wilmot (PA) introduced a bill that would prohibit slavery in any of the territory gained from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War. It was never passed. -
Free Soil Party Founded
Founded in Buffalo, NY, this party opposed the extension of slavery into the territories and the admission of new slave states to the Union. Many members of the Free Soils Party had once belonged to the Liberty Party and the Democrat Party. Martin Van Buren became the Free Soil's candidate for President in 1848. Their campaign slogan was "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men." -
Compromise of 1850
Admitted California as a free state, allowed the residents of NM and UT territories to decide the slavery issue for themselves. It ended the slave trade in the District of Columbia and passed a new fugitive slave law. The Fugitive Slave Act, reinforced the right to seize and return to bondage slaves who had fled to free territory. The North's hostile reaction to the law made southerners doubt the compromise. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act Passed
This Act split Nebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska, but it left the decision on slavery to the inhabitants of each state. It allowed slaves to be brought into an area that would others have been closed to slavery under the Missouri Compromise. -
Republican Party Formed
The Republican Party formed from a coalition of antislavery Whigs, northern Democrats and members of the Know-Nothing Party who were unhappy with President Pierce's Kansas policy, which had repealed the Missouri Compromise. -
John Brown and the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre
After proslavery forces attacked Lawrence, KS, antislavery agitator John Brown went to Pottawatomie Creek south of Lawrrence in seach of proslavery settlers. Armed with swords, he and his fellow agitators split the skulls and hacked the bodies of 5 men. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave who brought suit demanding his freedom based on having resided in a free state (IL) and free territory (WI) with his master. Chief Justice Roger Taney argued that African Americans could not sue because they were not citizens of the United States. This decision was disturbing to free African Americans throughout the country. By being stripped of their citizenship, they were vulnerable to re-enslavement or expulsion. -
First Lincoln Douglas Debates
These debates were between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas who were both running for the United States Senate. These debates took place in several Illinois cities and centered on the extension of slavery into free territory. Douglas believed that the people of the territories should decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery. Lincoln thought slavery was wrong and hoped to end it. Douglas won his reelection, but these debates gave Lincoln national attention. -
John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry, VA
Brown and 22 of associates attack and capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Feery. Brown believed that the attack would spark a slave revolt that would spread to the rest of the state. The United States Marines under Col. Robert E. Lee put down the revolt. No slave revolt occurred. Brown was tried for treason and put to death. -
Election of 1860
Republican: Abraham Lincoln;
Northern Democrats: Stephen Douglas;
Southern Democrats: John Breckinridge;
Constitutional Union Party: John Bell -
John Crittenden Proposed Series of Amendments
proposed to the United States Senate in 1860 by Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky in an effort to keep the Southern States from leaving the Union. The Compromise proposed six amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Among other things it provided that slavery be protected south of 36° 30', and prohibited north of that line. It protected the interstate slave trade, and it provided for compensation by the United States government to the owners of slaves who had been helped to escape.
