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Mississippi Senator Jefferson Davis presents resolutions to the Senate to affirm that the Federal government cannot only prohibit slavery in the territories, but must actually protect slaveholders there. He intends to unite the Democrat members for the upcoming Democratic party convention and presidential election against Stephen Douglas and his program of popular sovereignty.
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Former members of the American and Whig parties meet in Baltimore, MD, to form the Constitutional Union party. Delegates nominate John Bell of Tennessee for president and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for vice-president.
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Lincoln ran for president in 1860. He was the only
candidate against slavery. He won, but the election showed
that the country was divided. No southern states voted for
Lincoln. Some southerners said the federal government
was too strong. They said tariffs and laws to limit slavery
threatened states’ rights. -
Pres. Buchanan delivers his State of the Union message to Congress that has gathered on the previous day. He says the slave states and their rights cannot be interfered with, so they should be left alone. The interference of northerners in southern affairs is causing issues. On the other hand, he says that secession is unlawful and proposes a constitutional amendment recognizing slaves as lawful property in the states and that all fugitive slave should be returned to owners
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The congressmen ask for negotiations with South Carolina commissioners to consider turning over Federal property to the state, because they say that if reinforcements go to Charleston there will surely be war.
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Seven senators and 23 representatives from the southern states issue a manifesto urging secession and the organization of a Southern Confederacy.
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The South Carolina convention votes 159 - 0 for secession. Another resolution establishes a committee to draft the ordinance of secession and then adjourns to Charleston because of smallpox in the city.
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Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky proposes the Crittenden Compromise. The compromise consists of six constitutional amendments and four resolutions that make major concessions to southern concerns.
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South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860, the first state to ever officially secede from the United States. Four months later, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana seceded as well. Southerners feared it was only a matter of time before the addition of new non-slaveholding states but no new slaveholding states would give control of the government to abolitionists, and the institution of slavery would be outlawed completely.
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South Carolina commissioners are received by Pres. Buchanan as "private gentlemen", since he cannot recognize them as representatives of a sovereign power. They want Federal troops withdrawn from Fort Sumter, and Fort Pickens. President Buchanan is indecisive.
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Florida and Alabama secede from the Union, Florida by a vote of 62 to 7 at a state convention in Tallahasse, and Alabama the next day by a vote of 61 to 39 at a state convention in Montgomery.
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Fort Taylor, the unoccupied fort in Key West, Florida is garrisoned by Union troops. It is turned into a major coaling station for Union vessels in the blockading of Confederate shipping during the Civil War.
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The first six seceding states (S. Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana) form a provisional government called the Confederate States of America (C.S.A.).
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The Choctaw Indian Nation declares its allegiance to the southern states. Various Indian tribes will align themselves, some with the secessionists and other with the Union and become involved in some battles.
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Jefferson Davis is elected the provisional president of the Confed. States of America. He is elected at a convention in Montgomery, Alabama.
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The first battle of the Civil War happens at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The battle lasted two days and was a victory for the Confederate forces.
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Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus. This meant that people could now be imprisoned without being seen by a judge and told what their crimes were. Technically this is against the constitution but during a time of war it was necessary.
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Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant, capture Paducah, Kentucky without spilling any blood. This gives the union control of the Tennesse River.
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Lincoln appoints George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army, He replaces the aging Winfield Scott. This is probably Lincoln's worst decision of the entire Civil War.
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This Union ship stops the United Kingdom mail ship, The Trent. They arrest two Confederate envoys, James Mason and John Slidell. This causes tension with the previously uninvolved Britain.
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Lincoln issues the first General War Order, telling all land and sea army forces to advance. McClellan igornes this, but because of his backing Lincoln could not punish him.
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This was a form of paper money introduced by Lincoln. It was the unified money for the United States and was used by the Union army. This money was distributed longer then any other money.
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The Confederate ironclad USS Merrimack battles the Union ironclad USS Monitor in Chesapeake Bay. The battle is a draw but it makes wooden ships obsolete and ushers in the era of steel warships, changing naval warfare forever.
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Union General Ulysses S. Grant's forces are surprised at the town of Shiloh in Tennessee. The ensuing battle results in 13,000 Union and 10,000 Confederate casualties, more than in all previous American wars combined.
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Davis and the Confederate Congress approve the conscription act. This calls forward any white male ages 18 to 35 to fight for the confederate army.
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The Union army is officially allowed to hire African Americans as laborers. This is a step in the right direction because they are on their way to becoming equal. The slaves are now allowed to help in the army that is being fought to free them.
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The battle of Antietam is the bloodiest single day battle in American history. Neither side won the war but the Confederate retreat during the battle made it a victory in Lincoln's eyes. The battle ended in a loss of 110 men.
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Lincoln's plan for Emancipation is published in the Union newspapers. This gives the slaves hope for their freedom and even more of a reason behind the war.
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Lincoln orders 39 Sioux Indian men to be hanged. This is ironic because he is trying to gain one group of people equality and he should be doing the same things for the Native Americans.
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The Union Army under General Ambrose E. Burnside suffers a horrible defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg in Virginia. Fourteen individual assaults on an entrenched Confederate position cost the Union 13,000 casualties.
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Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It frees all slaves in territory captured by the Union Army, and orders the enlistment of black soldiers. From this point forward, the Civil War is a war over slavery.
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Congress enacts the first draft in American history, requiring every man to serve in the army unless he can furnish a substitute or pay the government $300. These escape provisions are wildly unpopular with workers and recent immigrants, and lead to draft riots in New York and other northern cities.
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Over the course of three days, General Robert E. Lee divides his army in the face of a larger enemy, and manages to defeat the Union Army led by "Fighting" Joe Hooker. The North suffers 17,000 casualties, the South 13,000.
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Confederate General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson dies from wounds sustained when he was mistakenly shot by his own troops at Chancellorsville.
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From July 1 to July 4, the Union Army under General Meade defeats Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One of the bloodiest battles of the war, Gettysburg is a turning point, and marks the farthest advance of the Confederate Army into northern territory.
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On the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee orders General George Pickett to assault entrenched Union positions. In what would become known as "Pickett's Charge," More than half of the 12,000 Confederate soldiers who participate in the charge are slaughtered as they walk slowly across a 3/4-mile field into a hail of gunfire.
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Far to the West on the Mississippi River, General Ulysses S. Grant takes Vicksburg after a long siege. At this point, the Union controls the entire river, cutting the Confederacy in two.
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When the government attempts to begin conscription, riots break out in New York and other northern cities. In New York, 120 men, women and children—mostly black—are killed before Union troops returning from Gettysburg restore order.
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This battle took place in Lawrence, Kansas, the site of much previous violence over the issue of slavery. William Qauntrill's raiders kill over 200 men and boys. The north views this as one of the most vicious atrocities of the war,
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President Lincoln delivers the two-minute Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the National Cemetery at the battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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The first 500 prisoners of war arrive at the Confederate prison camp, Andersonville. This was the harshest prison camp of the Civil War. Many of the men held there did not survive because of the brutal conditions faced there.
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Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant commander of all Union armies, ending his long search for a decent general to command northern forces. General William T. Sherman takes over as commander in the West.
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Beginning a drive aimed at ending the war, Ulysses S. Grant and 120,000 troops march south towards Richmond, the Confederate capital. Over the course of the next six weeks, a brutal war of attrition results in the deaths of nearly 50,000 Union soldiers.
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Continuing his advance, Union General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Robert E. Lee's Confederate forces at Spotsylvania. Grant loses more soldiers than Lee. Still, General Lee is forced to retreat south.
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The New York World and the New York Journal of Commerce publish an article stating that Lincoln has drafted 400,000 more soldiers into the Union army, The public decided it was not true when they found that only two papers had published the news.
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The bloody battle of Cold Harbor is a disaster for the Union. General Ulysses S. Grant makes a series of tactical mistakes that result in the deaths of 7,000 Union in twenty minutes.
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The Arlington National Cemetary is established by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. It is created using 200 acres land from Robert E Lee's home, Arlington House.
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Helena, Montana is founded by four prospectors. They create it after finding gold at Last Chance Gulch, it is their last attempt at finding gold after weeks of looking in the Rockies.
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A group of Confederate operatives that call themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan set fires in more then 20 places. This is their unsuccessful attempt at burning New York down.
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At Waynesboro, Georgia forces the Union prevent Confederate troops from interfering with General Sherman's plan to destroy part of the South by matching to Savannah, Georgia. Union suffers three times as many casualties as the Confederacy.
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The United States Congress approves the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which will abolish slavery.
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The Union Army captures Richmond, Virginia, which is nearly leveled by shelling and fire.
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John Wilkes Booth shoots President Lincoln at Fords Theater during a performance of My American Cousin. Lincoln is pronounced dead early the next morning. In addition, William Seward and his family are attacked by Booth's co-conspirator, Lewis Powell.
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General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant in a farmhouse in the town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The war is over.
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General Joe Johnston, leading the largest Confederate Army still in existence, surrenders in North Carolina.
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John Wilkes Booth is captured in a barn in Virginia at the Garret's farm. He is shot and killed by Boston Corbett.
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Andrew Johnson grants a Presidential pardon to those who directly or indirectly aided the Southern war effort. He restored property rights to the South with the exception of slaves. Unlike Lincoln's declaration in December, 1863, Johnson creates an exception for property owners whose holdings total $20,000 dollars or more.
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General Robert S. Granger declares Emancipation Day in Texas, the date when all Negroes are officially set free. Now celebrated as Juneteenth.
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Major Henry Wirz is hanged. He was the leader of the atrocious war camp, Andersonville. He becomes the only soldier hanged for war crimes.
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In Pulaski, Tennessee, a group of Confederate veterans convenes to form a secret society that they christen the “Ku Klux Klan.” The KKK rapidly grew from a secret social fraternity to a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal government’s progressive Reconstruction Era-activities in the South, especially policies that elevated the rights of the local African American population.
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The last issue of the Liberator is published. The newspaper has now becomes unnecessary because the slaves have been freed.
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African American males are given the right to vote in Washington D.C. Congress over came President Johnson's veto to give the African Americans this right.
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Former Confederate bushwhackers, led by Archie Clement, Cole Younger, and Frank James, conduct an armed bank robbery on the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri.
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The U.S. Supreme Court case Ex parte Milligan rules against the use of military tribunals in areas where civilian courts are established, resulting in important implications for one of the accused Lincoln assassination conspirators.
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A two-thirds majority vote in each house of Congress overrides the veto of President Andrew Johnson to enact the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
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14th Amendment passed by Congress grants full citizenship to blacks, gives the Federal government the responsibility to protect equal rights under the law to all American citizens.
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By an act of Congress, the all-African American 10th U.S. Cavalry regiment (along with five other regiments stationed elsewhere in the West) is formed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
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One hundred Missouri bushwhackers-turned-bank robbers, led by guerrilla Archie Clement, occupy Lexington in opposition to Radical Republican actions against Missouri secessionists.
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Although Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson pursue a moderate course on Reconstruction by readmitting Southern states into the Union as quickly as possible, the so-called Radical Republicans demand more comprehensive efforts to extend civil rights to freed slaves.
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Overriding President Johnson's veto, Congress grants black male citizens in the District of Columbia the right to vote.
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Jesse James robs a bank in Savannah,Missouri. The attempt failed with one casualty.
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Johnson suspends Stanton as Secretary of War after the two clash over reconstruction plans. Johnson places Ulysses S. Grant in the position.
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The first reconstruction act sets up five military districts in the South, each under the control of a military commander. The Army Appropriations Act is passed, lessening Johnsons' control on the army. The final act passed is The Tenure Office Act which states that Johnson cannot remove cabinet members without the Senate's consent.
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African Americans stage a ride on streetcars in New Orleans to protest segregation.
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President Andrew Johnson announces the purchase of Alaska. This would be the second to last state added to the United States of America.
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Johnson vetoes the third reconstruction act which spells out election procedures in the South and reasserts congressional control over the Reconstruction. Congress overrides Johnsons' veto,
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Johnson intentionally violates the Tenure of Office Act when he suspends Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and replaces him with General Ulysses S. Grant during a congressional recess. The Senate refuses to confirm the action, Grant returns the office to Stanton, but the President names Gen. Lorenzo Thomas to the post instead. Impeachment proceedings follow in 1868.
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congress looks into impeaching Johnson for his lack of effectiveness and unwillingness to follow through with reconstruction.
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Former Minnesota farmer Oliver Hudson Kelley founds the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry. Today this order is known as the farmers organization Grange.
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By the end of 1867, new elections have been held under the Radical Reconstruction plan in every southern state except Texas.
