-
Creation of Cotton Gin
The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney, the cotton gin revolutionized the production of cotton greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. Cotton growing became so profitable for enslavers that it greatly increased their demand for both land and enslaved labor. Slaves became more valuable to white men. The invention made it easy to pick cotton, so they wanted more slaves, and more land for cotton. -
American Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was an epoch during the first 100 years where the economy progressed from manual labor/ farm labor to a greater degree of industrialization based on labor. The industrial revolution brought a machine age economy that relied on wage laborers not slaves. The amount of work and the level of how dangerous the work was increased for slaves as the insurability revelution was growing. The industrial revolution majorly impacted every americans lives. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the
territory of Louisiana by the US from Napoleonic France. The US traded $15 million for 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. The Louisiana Purchase eventually doubled the size of the US,
providing a powerful impetus to westward expansion. Causing the US to double in size, expands its power over North America, and allowing it to one day become a major power. -
Second Great Awakening
The second great awakening protested religious revivals, it led to a period of antebellum social reform. it led to a period of antebellum social reform.
The second Great Awakening influenced the Revolutionary War by encouraging the notions of nationalism and individual rights. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise drew a line from east to west along the 36th parallel, dividing the nation into competing halves. Making one side a slave state and the other side a free state. The Missouri Compromise created great tension between the US. The US was being pulled apart over deciding upon if owning slaves is illegal or not. This was a major event that really was the biggest start of tension which will later cause the Civil war. -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Nat Turner was an enslaved man who led a rebellion of enslaved people. His action set off a massacre of up to 00 black people and a new wave of oppressive
legislation(prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of enslaved people). The Nat Turner revolt hardened pro slavery attitudes among Soutern whites and led to a new oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of slaves. This
encoruged the widespread of persecution of slaves and freed Black citizens. -
Nullification Crisis (President Jackson)
The nullification crisis is a confrontation between the state of South Carolina and the federal government. South Carolina tested the doctrine of nullification when it declared a federal tax null and void within the state. The Nullification Crisis represented a pivotal moment in American history as this is the first time tensions between state and federal authority almost led to a civil war. -
Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was a battle for land where Mexico was fighting to keep what they thought was their property. The Mexican American war helped America “manifest destiny” to expand its territory across the entire North American continent. The tension between the pro-slavery states of the southern US and the anti-slavery states of the north was made worse by the addition of so much new territory (this hastened the onset of the Civil War). -
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush was a rapid influx of fortune seekers in California that began after gold was found at Sutter's Mill. The California Gold Rush radically transformed California and the US. The influx of gold resulted in the expansion of manufacturing and the service industries. -
Compromise of 1850
As part of the Compromise of 1850 the fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washigtion DC was abolished. The Compromise of 1850 ended the balance between free and slave states. The Compromise liberated Black people and criminalized free people who aided the escape of the formerly enslaved. -
Fredrick Douglass gives July 4th Speech
Fredrick Douglas gave a speech at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. During the Civil War Douglass was a cononsultant to President Abraham Lincoln and helped convince him that slaves should serve in the Union forces and that the abolition of slavery should be a goal of the war. -
Harriet Breacher Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
Harriet Breacher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the theme throughout the book was the problem of slavery and the treatment of humans as property. Uncle Tom’s Cabin widened the chasm between the North and South, greatly strange the ed Northern abolitionism, and weakened British sympathy for the Southern cause. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. The Kansas-Nebraska Act intensified the bitter debate over slavery in the US, which would later explode into the Civil War. The controversial bill raised the possibility that slavery could be extended into territories where it had once been banned. -
“Bleeding Kansas”
Bleeding Kansas was the period of repeated outbreaks of violent guerrilla warfare between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces following the creation of the new territory of Kansas. Kansans engaged in a violent gorilla war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in an event known as Bleeding Kansas which significantly shaped American politics and contributed to the coming of the Civil War. -
Attack on Charles Sumner
The attack on Charles Sumner is when a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts. This was a very physical representation of stored up tension leading up to the Civil War. Someone attacked Charles Sumner because they were so mad and frustrated, this event really created even more tension in the court room. -
“Dred Scott v Sanford”
The Dred Scott v Sanford case was where the Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens and could not sue in federal court. Due to the Dred Scott v Sanford, the divide between North and South over slavery grew and culminated in the secession of southern states from the Union and the creation of the Confederate States of America. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
Raid on Harpers Ferry Raid was an assault by an armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown on the federal armory located at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown's raid helped make any further accommodation between North and South nearly impossible and thus became an important impetus of the Civil War. -
Election of 1860
The 1860 presidential election turned on a number of issues including secession; the relationship between the federal government, states, and territories; and slavery and abolition. The results of the 1860 elections pushed the nations into war. The 1860 presidential election turned on a number of issues including secession; the relationship between the federal government, states, and territories; and slavery and abolition. -
Southern Secession
The Southern Secession was the withdrawal of 11 slave states (states in which slaveholding was legal) from the Union during 1860–61 following the election of Abraham Lincoln as president. It lead up to the war because the economy of the South was cotton. And how they got cotton so fast was that they used slaves to harvest the cotton. And the other half of the Union was not for slavery so they declared secession from the Union. -
Shots Fired at Ft. Sumter
This was the official start of fighting in the American Civil War. Union troops (northern troops) stationed at Ft. Sumter in South Carolina were attacked by the South Carolina militia. Union troops lost and surrendered the fort to the Confederate militia. Unlike previous acts of violence, this was the first time violence broke out between organized military troops. Fighting in the Civil War would continue for 4 more years after this event.