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Slavery began in the USA with the arrival of African slaves in Jamestown, Virginia. -
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A ship with a cargo of slaves arrived in America. The majority of these slaves were sold to landowners. It was the beginning of slave trade. -
The Declaration of Independence stated as a “self-evident truth” that “all men are created equal”. However, “all men” did not include Black people. Even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. -
The first factory opened in the US. America’s industrialization process was underway. -
Eli Whitney invented the cotton "gin" (engine) in Georgia, a machine that quickly separated cotton seeds from fibers. This invention made possible a huge increase in cotton production, leading to more slaves being brought in and increasing southern planters' dependence on slavery. -
Most political leaders of the 19th century based their expansionist policies on the idea of "Manifest Destiny", the belief that the US was meant to spread across the continent.
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The US bought Louisiana from France (French First Republic) in what is known as the Louisiana Purchase. -
Congress made it illegal for ships to bring any new slaves from Africa into the United States.
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By this year, the US population was 7.2 million, with 1.2 million being black slaves. -
Southern and northern politicians intensely debated whether slavery should be permitted in the new territories being settled in the West, specifically the Missouri territory. The Missouri Compromise was reached: slavery was permitted in Missouri and Arkansas territories but banned in lands to the west and north of Missouri. -
The southern states clashed with the northern states on matters of taxes (import duties) and slavery. John C. Calhoun (from South Carolina) introduced the "states' rights doctrine," claiming a state could disobey federal law if it harmed its interests. -
In February, Nathaniel “Nat” Turner leads a 4-day slave rebellion in Virginia. The uprising was crushed, and Turner was executed, along with other 55 enslaved people accused of participating in the rebellion. -
The Republic of Texas, which had declared independence from Mexico, was annexed as the 28th state. Texas would be among the first states to secede from the Union and join the Confederacy. -
The U.S. acquired the Oregon Territory.
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At the end of the Mexican-American war, New Mexico and Upper California were annexed to the US. The question of whether to allow slavery in these new territories again caused intense North-South disagreement. -
Enslaved woman Harriet Tubman, escaped to Philadelphia and joined the Underground Railroad, where she would become an important figure (she lived until 1913). -
Harriet Tubman began leading fugitives to Canada, where they could be free, after the Fugitive Slave Act made northern cities unsafe. -
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed, making it easier for southerners to recapture escaped slaves and imposing severe penalties on anyone assisting fugitives. This law angered northerners and led to the rise of "bounty hunters".
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Congress passed another compromise: California was admitted as a free state, while people in Utah and New Mexico could decide for themselves whether to allow slavery.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe began publishing Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The book became the best-selling novel and the second best-selling book of the 19th century, surpassed only by the Bible. It was instrumental in spreading abolitionist (anti-slavery) ideas. In meeting her, Lincoln is said to have claimed “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!” -
Senator Stephen Douglas persuaded Congress to end the Missouri Compromise, allowing people in the Kansas territory to decide on slavery. -
A "race" to control Kansas began between pro-slavery and anti-slavery states, leading to widespread fighting and killing, causing the territory to be called "bleeding Kansas". -
The Dred Scott decision was announced by the Supreme Court. In this ruling, the Court ruled that black slaves could not claim American citizenship and that Congress had exceeded its constitutional powers in prohibiting slavery in western territories (declaring the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional). -
John Brown led a raid on an army weapons store at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, to incite a slave rebellion; he was captured, tried for treason, and hanged, becoming a martyr for many northerners. -
In November, Abraham Lincoln, a Republican opposed to the spread of slavery, won the presidential election. -
In December, South Carolina voted to secede from the United States. -
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Ten more southern states joined South Carolina to form an independent nation, the Confederate States of America (the Confederacy). -
Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President. In a final plea to the South, he promised to preserve slavery where it already existed but warned that secession would not be tolerated. -
Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter, a US military fortress in Charleston, South Carolina. The Union was led by Abraham Lincoln whereas the Confederacy was led by Jefferson Davis. -
The Union naval officer David Farragut captured New Orleans, the Confederacy's largest city.
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-The Union faced repeated defeats in Virginia while trying to capture the Confederate capital, Richmond.
-The North had significant advantages in population (22 million vs. 9 million in the South, 3.5 million of whom were slaves) and manufacturing capacity.
-Confederate forces were led by skilled generals like Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson -
The Enmacipation Proclamation was issued by Lincoln to bring enthusiasm to the war, which meant that from January 1, 1863, all slaves in areas of the Confederacy would be free. This changed the war's purpose from preserving the Union to also abolishing slavery. -
Confederate General Lee had marched his army north into Pennsylvania. There, the Battle of Gettysburg, the biggest battle ever fought in the United States, resulted in a decisive defeat for the Confederate army from which it would never recover.
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Vicksburg (an important Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River) surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively splitting the Confederacy in two and giving the Union control of the entire Mississippi River.
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The Gettysburg Address, delivered by President Lincoln at the dedication of a national war cemetery on the battlefield, was a speech that became famous for its expression of faith in democratic principles. -
-The Confederacy was running out of men, equipment, food, and money.
-Union General William T. Sherman began his march through Georgia, destroying everything in his path. -
Sherman's army occupied Savannah, further splitting the Confederacy.
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General Grant's Union army almost encircled the Confederate capital of Richmond.
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Lee was forced to abandon Richmond.
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The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery everywhere in the United States. -
General Lee surrendered his army to General Grant at Appomattox, Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.
Grant treated the defeated Confederate soldiers generously. “The war is over. The rebels are our countrymen again” (U. S. Grant) -
One out of every four soldiers who went to war never returned home. Different estimates put the fatal casualties between 600,000 and 850,000, making it the deadliest military conflict in US History. More Americans died in the Civil War than in the two World Ears combined. -
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President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater. -
Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln as President. He aimed to reunite the South with the nation, punishing only guilty individuals and allowing former Confederate states to rejoin the Union upon pledging loyalty and accepting the 13th Amendment. -
The great American poet Walt Whitman expressed his grief for Lincoln's death in his poem O Captain! My Captain!, first published in November of that year. -
White southerners in states like Mississippi and South Carolina began to pass "Black Codes", a set of laws intended to keep black people in an inferior position, denying them the right to vote, land, and legal protections.
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Congress passed a Civil Rights Act and established the Freedmen's Bureau to protect black people's rights in the South, despite presidential opposition (Pres. Andrew Johnson tried to veto the bill twice). -
Congress passed the Reconstruction Act, which dismissed white southern governments and placed them under military rule, requiring acceptance of the 14th Amendment and black male suffrage for readmission to the Union. -
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The 14th Amendment was adopted, granting black people full rights of citizenship, including the right to vote. All former Confederate states except Tennessee refused to accept it.
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Former General of the Union Army Ulysses S. Grant began his term as President. -
All southern states had new "Reconstruction" governments, often made up of black people, along with some white southerners who cooperated ("scalawags"), and white men from the North ("carpetbaggers"). ** White southerners*, largely supporting the Democratic Party, **resented Reconstruction* because it aimed to give black people equal rights and formed terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan to prevent this through violence and fear. -
Congress withdrew federal troops from the South, marking the end of Reconstruction and allowing white Democrats to regain control. Rutherford B. Hayes began his term as President.
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Republican supporters of Reconstruction held power in only three southern states.
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As Reconstruction came to an end, Southern black people were increasingly treated as "second-class citizens" and robbed of their right to vote through measures like high poll taxes and "grandfather clauses" (which only allowed voting to those whose grandfathers could vote in 1865). States began to pass laws enforcing strict racial separation, or "segregation," in all aspects of life
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During this decade, an average of 150 black people per year were illegally killed ("lynched") by white mobs.
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The Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that the Constitution allowed "separate but equal" facilities and services for black and white people, making racial segregation legal for over half a century. Southern states immediately began enforcing unequal provisions for blacks in public life.