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Missouri Compromise
Behind the leadership of Henry Clay, Congress passed a series of agreements in 1820-1821 known as the Missouri Compromise. Under these agreements, Maine was admitted as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. The rest of the Louisiana Territory was split into two parts. The dividing line was set at 36"30' north latitude. South of the line, slavery was legal. North of the line- except in Missouri- slavery was banned. -
Santa Fe Trail
One of the busiest routes was the Santa Fe Trail, which stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. Each spring from 1821 through the 1860's, American traders loaded their covered wagons with goods and set off toward Santa Fe. Traders raced off on their own as each tried to be the first to arrive. -
San Felipe de Austin
In 1821 he established a colony where "no drunkard, no gambler, no profane swearer, and no idler" would be allowed. The main settlement of the colony was named San Felipe de Austin, in Stephen's honor. By 1825, Austin had issued 297 land grants to the group that later became known as Texas's Old Three Hundred. Each family received either 177 very inexpensive acres of farmland, or 4,428 acres for stock grazing, as well as a 10-year exemption from paying taxes. -
The Liberator
The most radical white abolitionist was a young editor named William Lloyd Garrison. Active in religious reform movements in Massachusetts, Garrison became the editor of an antislavery paper in 1828. Three years later he established his own paper, The LIberator, to deliver an uncompromising demand: immediate emancipation. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
Despite peaceful cooperation between Anglos and Tejanos, differences over cultural issues intensified between Anglos and the Mexican government. The overwhelmingly Protestant Anglo settlers were Southerners, who had brought slaves with them to Texas. Mexico, which had abolished slavery in 1829, insisted in vain that the Texans free their slaves. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Some slaves rebelled against their condition of bondage. One of the most prominent rebellions was led by Virginia slave Nat Turner. In August 1831, Turner and more than 50 followers attacked four plantations and killed about 60 whites. Whites eventually captured and executed many members of the group, including Turner. -
Stephen F. Austin goes to jail
Austin had traveled to Mexico City late in 1833 to present petitions to Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna for greater self-government for Texas. While Austin was on his way home, Santa Anna had Austin imprisoned for inciting revolution. After Santa Anna suspended local powers in Texas and other Mexican states, several rebellions broke out, including one that would be known as the Texas Revolution. -
Texas Revolution
Mexican states, several rebellions broke out, including one that would be known as the Texas Revolution. When Austin returned to Texas in 1835, he was convinced that was was its "only resource." Determined to force Texas to obey Mexican law, Santa Anns marched his army toward San Antonio. At the same time, Austin and his followers issued a call for Texans to arm themselves. -
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail stretched from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon. It was blazed in 1836 by two Methodist missionaries named Marcus and Narcissa Whitman. By driving their wagon as far as Fort Boise (near present-day Boise, Idaho), they proved that wagons could travel on the Oregon Trail, Some brought "prairie schooners," wooden-wheeled wagons covered with sailcloth and pulled by oxen. -
Manifest Destiny
The phrase "manifest destiny" expressed the belief that the United States was ordained to expand the Pacific Ocean and into Mexican and Native American territory. Many Americans also believed that this destiny was manifest, or obvious, and inevitable. -
Texas enters the United States
Most Texans hoped that the United States would annex their republic, but U.S. opinion divided along sectional lines. Southerners wanted Texas in order to extend slavery, which already had been established there. Northerners feared that the annexation of more slave territory would tip the uneasy balance in the Senate in favor of slave states- and prompt war with Mexico. -
Mexican-American War
The main cause of the Mexican-American War was because of manifest destiny, westward expansion, economics, and slavery. American citizens in the South wished to gain more "slave states" in order to increase their political power. The war lasted almost two years. -
The North Star
One of those eager readers was Frederick Douglass, who escaped from bondage to become an eloquent and outspoken critic of slavery. Hoping that abolition could be achieved without violence, Douglass broke with Garrison, who believed that abolition justified whatever means were necessary to achieve it. In 1847, Douglass began his own antislavery newspaper. He named it The North Star, after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
On February 2, 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as the border between Texas and Mexico and ceded the New Mexico and California territories to the United States. The United States agreed to pay $15 million for the Mexican cession, which included present-day California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, most of Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. -
Underground Railroad
The system of escape routes they used became known as the Underground Railroad. "Conductors" on the routes hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided them with food and clothing, and escorted or directed them to the next "station." One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman, born a slave in Maryland in 1820 or 1821. She made a break for freedom and succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. She made 19 trips back to South and helped 300 slaves including her parents. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The harsh terms of the Fugitive Slave Act surprised many people. Under the law, alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. In addition, anyone convicted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months. Infuriated by the Fugitive Slave Act, some Northerners resisted it by organizing "vigilance committees" to send endangered African Americans to safety in Canada. Others resorted to violence to rescue fugitive slaves. -
Compromise of 1850
As the 31st Congress opened in December 1849, the question of statehood for California topped the agenda. Of equal concern was the border dispute in which the slave state of Texas claimed the eastern half of the New Mexico Territory, where the issue of slavery had not yet been settled. As passions mounted, threats of Southern secession, the formal withdrawal of a state from the Union, became more frequent. Henry Clay wrote it. Appeased Northerners and Southerners. Popular sovereignty in place. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which stressed that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle. As a young girl, Stowe had watched boats filled with people on their way to be sold at slave markets. The book expressed her lifetime hatred of slavery. The book caused people to increase their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act, while Southerners criticized the book as an attack on the South. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
To senator Stephen Douglas, popular sovereignty seemed like an excellent way to decide whether slavery would be allowed in the Nebraska Territory. The Kansas and Nebraska territory lay north of the Missouri Compromise line. Douglas introduced a bill in Congress on January 23, 1854, that would divide the area into two territories: Nebraska in the north and Kansas in the south. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law in 1854. -
Dread Scott v. Sandford
A major Supreme Court decision was brought by Dred Scott, a slave whose owner took him from the slave state of Missouri to free territory in Illinois and Wisconsin and back to Missouri. Scott appealed to the Supreme Court for his freedom on the grounds that living in a free state of Illinois and a free territory in Wisconsin which had made him a free man. The case was in court for years and finally on March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott. He could not ever be a citizen. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
The 1858 race for the U.S. Senate between Democratic incumbent Stephen Douglas and Republican challenger Congressman Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln challenged the man known as the "Little Giant" to a series of debates on the issue of slavery in the territories. Douglas accepted the challenge, and the stage was set for the best debates in U.S. history. Neither wanted slavery in the territories, but disagreed on how to keep it out. Douglas won the Senate seat but they both drew attention to people. -
John Brown's raid/Harpers Ferry
John Brown was studying the slave uprisings that had occurred in ancient Rome and, more recently, on the French island of Haiti. Brown secretly obtained financial backing from several prominent Northern abolitionists. On the night of October 16, 1859, he led band of 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His aim was to seize the federal arsenal there and start general slave uprising. Response was extreme and mobs assaulted whites who were suspected of holding antislavery views. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes president
As the 1860 presidential election approached, Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. As campaign developed, three major candidates besides Lincoln vied for office. Democratic Party finally split over slavery. Lincoln emerged as the winner with less than half the popular vote and with no electoral votes from the South. He did not appear on the ballot in most of the slave state because of Southern hostility toward him. The outlook for the Union was grim. -
Formation of the Confederacy
In February 1861, delegates from the secessionist states met in Montgomery, Alabama, where they formed the Confederate States of America, or Confederacy. They also drew up a constitution that closely resembled that of the United States, but with a few notable differences. It "protected and recognized" slavery in new territories. They elected Jefferson Davis as president. Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas all joined. -
Attack on Fort Sumter
On April 18, 1861, Major Robert Anderson was traveling by ship from Charleston, South Carolina, to New York City. Anderson wrote a report to secretary of war where he described most recent command. By the time of Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, only four Southern forts remained in Union hands. The most important was Fort Sumter, on an island in Charleston harbor. Lincoln decided to neither abandon Fort Sumter nor reinforce it. The deadly struggle between North and South was under way. -
Battle of Bull Run
The first bloodshed on the battlefield occurred about three months after Fort Sumter fell, near the little creek of Bull Run, just 25 miles from Washington D.C. The battle was a seesaw affair. In the morning the Union army gained the upper hand, but the Confederates held firm, inspired by General Thomas J. Jackson. Fortunately for the Union, the Confederates were too exhausted to follow up their victory with an attack on Washington. Confederate morale soared. Confederate soldiers went home. -
Income Tax
Wages did not keep up with prices, and many people's standard of living declined. When white male workers went out on strike, employees hired free blacks, immigrants, and women to replace them for lower wages. As the Northern economy grew, Congress decided to help pay for the war by collecting the nation's first income tax, a tax that takes a specified percentage of an individual's income. -
Battle at Antietam
McClellan ordered his men to pursue Lee, and the two sides fought on September 17 near a creek called the Antietam. The clash proved to be the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with casualties totaling more than 26,000. The next day, instead of pursuing the battered Confederate army into Virginia and possibly ending the war, McClellan did nothing. As a result, Lincoln removed him from command. -
Conscription
The war led to a social upheaval and political unrest in both the North and the South. As the fighting intensified, heavy casualties and widespread desertions led to each side to impose conscription, a draft that forced men to serve in the army. In the North, conscription led to draft riots, the most violent of which took place in New York City. Sweeping changes occurred in the wartime economies of both sides as well as in the roles played by African Americans and women. -
Emancipation Proclamation
On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation did not free any slaves immediately because it applied only to areas behind Confederate lines, outside Union control. Nevertheless, for many, the proclamation gave the war a moral purpose by turning the struggle into a fight to free slaves. It also ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Battle at Gettysburg
Near the sleepy town of Gettysburg, in southern Pennsylvania, the most decisive battle of the war was fought. The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1. By the end of the first day of fighting, 90,000 Union troops under the command of General George Meade had taken the field against 75,000 Confederates, led by General Lee. Three-day battle produced staggering losses: 23,000 Union men and 28,000 Confederates were killed or wounded. -
Gettysburg Address
In November 1863, a ceremony was held to dedicate a cemetery in Gettysburg. There, President Lincoln spoke for a little more than two minutes. According to some contemporary historians, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address "remade America." -
Battle at Vicksburg
While Meade's Army of the Potomac was destroying Confederate hopes in Gettysburg, Union general Ulysses S. Grant fought to take Vicksburg, one of the two remaining Confederate strongholds on the Mississippi River. Vicksburg itself was particularly important because it rested on bluffs above the river from which guns could control all water traffic. After food supplies ran so low for people, the Confederate command of Vicksburg asked Grant for terms of surrender. The city fell on July 4. -
Sherman's March
In the spring of 1864, Sherman began his march southeast through Georgia to the sea, created wide path of destruction. Army burned almost every house in its path and destroyed livestock and railroads. Sherman was determined to make Southerners "so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it." By mid-November he had burned most of Atlanta. After reaching the ocean, Sherman's forces- followed by 25,000 former slaves- turned north to help Grant "wipe out Lee." -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
On April 3, 1865, Union troops conquered Richmond, the Confederate capital. Southerners had abandoned the city the day before, setting it afire to keep the Northerners from taking it. April 9, 1865, in a Virginia town called Appomattox Court House, Lee & Grant met at a private home to arrange Confederate surrender. At Lincoln's request, the terms were generous. Grant paroled Lee's soldiers and sent them home with their possessions and three days' worth of rations. Civil war was over in 4 years. -
Abolition
Forten's unwavering belief that he was an American not only led him to oppose colonization- the effort to resettle free blacks in Africa- but also pushed him fervently to oppose slavery. Forten was joined in his opposition to slavery by a growing number of Americans in the 19th century. Abolition, the movement to abolish slavery, became the most important of a series of reform movements in America. -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
On April 14, 1865, five days after Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, Lincoln and his wife went to Ford's Theatre in Washington to see a British comedy, Our American Cousin. During its third act, a man crept up behind Lincoln and shot the president in the back of his head. He died on April 15. The shooter was 26 year old John Wilkes Booth. Twelve days later, Union cavalry trapped him in a Virginia tobacco shed and shot him dead. At the time the Civil War had ended. -
Thirteenth Amendment
The Emancipation Proclamation freed only those slaves who lived in states that were behind Confederate lines, and not yet under Union control. The gov't had to decide what to do about the border states, where slavery still existed. The president believed that the only solution was a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified at the end of 1865. The U.S. Constitution now stated, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime..."
