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abolition
the movement to abolish slavery; opposition to slavery in a growing number of americans in the 19th century. -
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.
Following the Whitmans’ lead, many pioneers migrated
west on the Oregon Trail. -
Missouri Compromise 1820-1821
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. James Monroe was president. -
Santa Fe Trail
one of the busiest routes, stretched 780 miles from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe in the Mexican province of New Mexico. Each spring from 1821 through the 1860s, American traders loaded their covered wagons with goods and set off toward Santa Fe. -
San Felipe de Austin
Austin’s father, Moses Austin, had received a land grant from Spain to establish a colony between the Brazos and Colorado rivers but died before he was able to carry out his plans. Stephen obtained permission, first from Spain and then from Mexico after it had won its independence, to carry out his father’s project. 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. -
Mexico abolishes slavery
many of the 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 -
The Liberator
William Lloyd Garrison established this paper to deliver an uncompromising demand: immediate emancipation. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Virginia slave, he and 50 followers attacked 4 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 López de Santa Anna for greater self-government for Texas. While Austin was on his way home, Santa Anna had Austin imprisoned for inciting revolution. -
Texas Revolution
the 1836 rebellion in which Texas gained its
independence from Mexico -
Manifest Destiny
expressed the belief that the United States was ordained to expand to 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
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. James K. Polk, a slaveholder, firmly favored the annexation of Texas. -
Mexican-American War
1846 to 1847; Mexican government angered at US-Texas negotiation on annexation
Mexico lost, giving up about half of its territory in the north -
The North Star
Frederick Douglass began his own antislavery newspaper, naming it after the star that guided runaway slaves to freedom. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Mexico conceded defeat
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. -
Harriet Tubman
one of the most famous conductors, born a slave in Maryland.
Tubman decided to make a break for freedom and succeeded in reaching Philadelphia. Shortly after passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, Tubman resolved to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. In all, she made 19 trips back to the South and is said to have helped 300 slaves—including her own parents—flee to freedom -
Compromise of 1850
made by Henry Clay
to please North: California admitted into the Union as a free state
to plase South: the compromise proposed a new and more effective fugitive slave law
to please both: a provision allowed popular sovereignty, the right to vote for or against slavery, for residents of the New Mexico and Utah territories -
Underground Railroad
free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who would, at great risk to themselves, hide fugitive slaves. “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.” Once fugitives reached the North, many chose to remain there. -
Fugitive Slave Act
Under the law, alleged fugitive slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury. anyone convicted of helping a fugitive was liable for a fine of $1,000 and imprisonment for up to six months -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
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; expressed her lifetime hatred of slavery -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
proposed by Senator Stephen Douglas
divides Kansas and Nebraska territory into 2 areas - Nebraska in the north, Kansas in the south
If passed, the bill would repeal the Missouri Compromise and establish popular sovereignty for both territories -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott’s slave master had brought him from the slave state of Missouri to live for a time in free territory and in the free state of Illinois. Eventually they returned to Missouri. Scott believed that because he had lived in free territory, he should be free. In 1854 he sued in federal court for his freedom. The court ruled against him, and he appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans were not and could never be citizens. -
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Debates
debating on the issue of slavery in the territories
neither wanted slavery, disagreed on how to keep it out
Douglas: popular sovereignty
Lincoln: slavery is immoral, didn't expect indiv. to give up slavery unless Congress abolished slavery with an ammendment
Douglas won senate seat -
John Brown's raid/Harpers Ferry
On the night of October 16, 1859, he led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia
His aim was to seize the federal arsenal there
and start a general slave uprising
troops put down the rebellion. Later, authorities tried Brown and put him to death. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes president
Lincoln was moderate in his views
Although he pledged to halt the further spread of slavery, he also tried to reassure Southerners that a Republican administration would not “interfere with their slaves, or with them, about their slaves.” -
Formation of the Confederacy
South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas
They also drew up a constitution that closely resembled that of the United States, but with a few notable differences. The most important difference was that it “protected and recognized” slavery in new territories
The Confederates then unanimously elected former
senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi as president -
Attack on Fort Sumter
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. He would merely send in “food for hungry men.” At 4:30 A.M. on April 12, Confederate batteries began thundering away to the cheers of Charleston’s citizens. The deadlystruggle between North and South was under way. -
Income Tax
a tax that takes a specified percentage of an individual’s income -
Battle of Bull Run
first bloodshed on the battlefield; battle was a seasaw affair
morning: union gained upper hand
afternoon: Confederate reinforcements helped win the first Southern victory
Confederates too exhausted to follow up their victory with an attack on Washington
many Confederate soldiers thought war was over, so they left the army and went home -
Battle of Antietam
McClellan vs Lee
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 -
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 the slaves. It also ensured that compromise was no longer possible. -
Conscription
a draft that forced men to serve in the army
due to heavy casualties and widespread desertion
North: conscription led to draft riots
Sweeping changes occurred in the wartime economies of both sides -
Battle at Vicksburg
Grant weakened the confederate defenses
in the last week of May 1863, Grant settled in for a siege
He set up a steady barrage of artillery, shelling the city from both the river and the land for several hours a day, forcing the city’s residents into caves that they dug out of the yellow clay hillsides
After food supplies ran so low that people were reduced to eating dogs and mules, the Confederate command of Vicksburg asked Grant for terms of surrender. -
Battle at Gettysburg
Buford ordered his men to take defensive positions on the hills and ridges surrounding the town. When Hill’s troops marched toward the town from the west, Buford’s men were waiting. The shooting attracted more troops and both sides called for reinforcements. end of the first day of fighting: 90,000 Union troops under the command of General Meade had taken the field against 75,000 Confederates, led by Lee.
After the battle, Lee gave up any hopes of invading the North and led army back to Virginia -
The Gettysburg Address
In other words, the speech helped the country to realize that it was not just a collection of individual states; it was one unified nation. -
Sherman's March
William Tecumseh Sherman began his march southeast through Georgia to the sea, creating a wide path of destruction
Sherman was determined to make Southerners “so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would again appeal to it.”
After reaching the ocean, Sherman’s forces—followed by 25,000 former slaves—turned north to help Grant “wipe out Lee.” -
Thirteenth Amendment
The U.S. Constitution now stated, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” -
Surrender at Appomattox Court House
Lee and Grant met at a private home to arrange a Confederate surrender
Grant paroled Lee’s soldiers and sent them
home with their possessions and three days’ worth of rations. Officers were permitted to keep their side arms. Within a month all remaining Confederate resistance collapsed. After four long years, the Civil War was over -
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
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
John Wilkes Booth—a 26-year-old actor and Southern sympathizer— then leaped down from the presidential box to the stage and escaped
