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When the United States first became a country, its leaders could not decide what to do about slavery. The southern states, which used by far the most slaves to work on its plantations, insisted they be allowed to keep it. As a result, the Constitution of the new American government said nothing about slavery, and the South was allowed to keep its slaved.
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As the US got bigger, life began to change for Americans. In the North, towns and cities got bigger, and an industrial revolution bringing new factories and technology happened. Immigrants arrived from all over Europe and began to build new lives. In the South, farming continued to be the main way people made their living, ideas about life and religion did not change very much. This meant that the North and South has less in common.
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The North and South argued constantly over whether slavery should or should not be allowed. In an attempt at compromise, an agreement was reached in 1820 which drew a line between the North and the South and determined that slavery could be used below the line, but not above it.
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In the North, more organisations that wanted to end slavery began to appear. Members of these groups were called "Abolitionists". These organisations often included popular authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, and their books were widely read. In the South, many people worried that the whole of the North wanted to end slavery.
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During the War of Independence, the American states began to feel like they were being told what to do by the North and wanted the right to run their own states in the way that they wished.
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John Maler Collier OBE RP ROI was a leading English artist, and an author. He painted in the Pre-Raphaelite style, and was one of the most prominent portrait painters of his generation. Both his marriages were to daughters of Thomas Henry Huxley. He studied painting at the Munich Academy starting in 1875.
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This was a very famous fictional novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, an opponent of slavery. It told the story of a slave (Uncle Tom) and the conditions in which he lived. The book was a huge hit in the North, and helped to persuade many Northerners that slavery needed to be ended.
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During the 1800s, the USA continued to get bigger, taking over new land in North America. This caused arguments between Northern and Southern states about whether slavery should be allowed in new states. In 1854, the new state of Kansas was allowed to vote on whether to allow slavery. This led to violence between supporters and enemies of slavery, and even some deaths.
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In 1859, a man called John Brown attacked an army base in the Southern state of Virginia. He did this because he hated slavery and thought that he could set slaves free by force. He thought that when he attacked, slaves in Virginia would rebel. He was wrong, his raid failed and he was executed. However, the South were now terrified of Northerners who wanted to force them to get rid of slavery.
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An active Baptist in Baltimore.
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After Lincoln's election, many of the Southern states decided that they did not want to be a part of the USA. They declared that they were independent countries, not ruled by the American government, just as the USA had when it broke away from Britain.
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The South were unhappy after his election because they believed he'd force them to abolish slavery. (Spoiler Alert: They were right.)
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In total, eleven Southern states decided to leave the Union. These were: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee. These states formed a new nation of their own - the Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln decided that he could not allow this and called for an army to bring the states back into the USA July 1861.
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After South Carolina declared that it was no longer part of the United States, it wanted to remove any US presence from the state. There was a large army base at Fort Sumter, in the state capital of Charleston, At the time it was occupied by soldiers of the North. South Carolina used its own army to bomb the base and force it to surrender, and the soldiers inside to leave. These were the first shots of the Civil War.
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The American Civil War (also known by other names) was a civil war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North (Union) and the South (Confederacy).[c] The most studied and written about episode in U.S. history,[16] the Civil War began primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people.
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Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, more commonly known as Ida B. Wells, was an African-American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of "Coloured People".
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The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. The amendment was ratified by the required number of states on December 6, 1865.
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The Black Codes were laws passed by Southern states in 1865 and 1866 in the United States after the American Civil War with the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.
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The Ku Klux Klan, commonly called the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist hate group. The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States.
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13th 1865 Abolition of Slavery and Involuntary Servitude 14th 1868 Protects rights against state infringements, defines citizenship, prohibits states from interfering with privileges and immunities, requires due process and equal protection, punishes states for denying vote, and disqualifies Confederate officials and debts 15th 1870 Voting Rights
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Abraham Lincoln was an American statesman, politician, and lawyer who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. Lincoln was assassinated by a young pro-slavery actor while at the theatre.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1966 is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, and racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations.
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The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former slaves—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.”
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The Memphis massacre of 1866 was a series of violent events that occurred from May 1 to 3, 1866 in Memphis, Tennessee. The racial violence was ignited by political, social, and racial tensions following the American Civil War, in the early stages of Reconstruction.
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The New Orleans Massacre of 1866 occurred on July 30, during a violent conflict as white Democrats, including police and firemen, attacked Republicans, most of them black, parading outside the Mechanics Institute in New Orleans. It was the site of a reconvened Louisiana Constitutional Convention.
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The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 laid out the process for readmitting Southern states into the Union. The Fourteenth Amendment (1868) provided former slaves with national citizenship, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) granted black men the right to vote.
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The Enforcement Act of 1871 (17 Stat. 13), also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1871, Force Act of 1871, Ku Klux Klan Act, Third Enforcement Act, or Third Ku Klux Klan Act, is an Act of the United States Congress which empowered the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus to combat the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white supremacy organizations. The act was passed by the 42nd United States Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on April 20, 1871.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, and racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations.
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German engineer Karl Benz produces the first automobile powered by a combustion engine.
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Congress grants female attorneys the right to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
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Thomas Edison
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Frances Perkins was an American sociologist and workers-rights advocate who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet.
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Booker T. Washington opens the Tuskegee Institute: a historically black University in Alabama, US.
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The Supreme Court rules that an Alabama law imposing severe punishment in illegal interracial intercourse than for illegal intercourse between parties of the same race did not violate the Equal Protection cause of the 14th Amendment.
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Congress passes this act, which bans Chinese immigration for a decade.
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This act established a Civil Service Commission and filled government positions through a merit system, including competitive examinations.
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The Supreme Court rules that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 only forbids state-imposed discrimination, not that by individuals or corporations.
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Killed seven police officers and wounded sixty.
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Asa Philip Randolph was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, the American labor movement, and socialist political parties. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly African-American labor union.
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Wallace D. Fard, also known as Wallace Fard Muhammad, was the founder of the Nation of Islam. He arrived in Detroit in 1930 with an obscure background and several aliases, and taught an idiosyncratic form of Islam to members of the city's black population.
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Martha Wright Griffiths was an American lawyer and judge before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1954.
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George Corley Wallace Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, a position he occupied for four terms, during which he promoted "low-grade industrial development, low taxes, and trade schools."
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Malcolm X was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement.
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Cesar Chavez was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962.
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The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the US Congress to authorize the President to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It also established a national public works program known as the Public Works Administration.
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Kwame Ture was a Trinidadian-American prominent socialist organizer in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and the global Pan-African movement. Born in Trinidad, he grew up in the United States from the age of 11 and became an activist while attending Howard University.
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With the belief that we can serve a realistic need, the National Indian Youth Council dedicated its activities and projects to attaining a greater future for our Indian People.
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Jesse Jackson stands as Democratic Presidential Candidate
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