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President
Abraham Lincoln was elected as president of the United States. -
Thirteenth amendment
Congress passed a resolution proposing a thirteenth amendment that stated that ¨no amendment shall be made to the constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that if persons held to labor or service by the laws of siad State¨ Two days later Lincoln inaugurated. -
Call for troops
President Lincoln issued a call for troops after the Confederates in Charleston fired at Union-held Fort Sumter, starting the civil war. -
First Confiscation act
Congress passed the First Confiscation act which invalidated the claims of escaped slaves who had been used on behalf of the Confederacy, president lincoln signed into law. -
joint resolution
Lincoln submitted to Congress a joint resolution proposing a federally compensation emancipation plan. Both houses of congress passed the resolution in April, but state legislatures in the effected states failed to respond. -
Congress
Congress passed an article of war prohibiting the army returning escaped slaves to their masters. Lincoln then signed this into law. -
Border States
Lincoln met the congressmen from the border states to encourage them to adopt the emancipation measures in their own states, but two days later the rejected his appeal. -
draft emancipation proclamation
Lincoln presented a draft emancipation proclamation to his cabinet. Secretary Seward suggested waiting for a union military victory before issuing a proclamation. -
Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that at January 1 1863 "all persons held as slaves within any state, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." -
Final Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln signed the Final Emancipation Proclamation which freed all slaves not living in specified Union controlled areas of confederacy, and authorized enrollment of African Americans into the military. -
Gettysburg address
Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the national cemetery in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. -
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
Lincoln issued his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction which established terms for the return of the Union of former Confederates, but required them to go by the rules and faithfully support all proclamations that the president made during the existing rebellion. -
Lincoln Final speech
In Lincoln's Final speech he suggested the limiting voting rights for "very intelligent" African American men and those who had served in the military. -
lincoln assassination
Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford's theatre by John Wilkes Booth.
